The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HIGH school sensation Lacarthea Cooper was all packed and ready to make the trek to Tokyo, Japan, as a part of the Bahamas women’s 4 x 400 metre relay pool when her COVID-19 test results shattered those dreams.

Listed as the youngest member of Team Bahamas, Cooper was scheduled to travel on Friday along with her close friend and Red-Line Athletics team-mate collegian Megan Moss, who is also expected to compete on the relay team.

But Cooper’s test came back positive.

“When I got the news, I was sad and disappointed, but they gave me a second chance. They told me to go and take another test to make sure,” Cooper said. “I was praying the next test came out negative, but it came out positive.”

With the support of her coach Tito Moss, of Red-Line Athletics, and her mother, Lathora Rahming, the 17-year-old Cooper said she was encouraged to hold her head up, although she took the opportunity to cry. She admitted that this ordeal will only make her stronger.

“Right now, I don’t feel any sickness. I don’t feel weak. I’m eating. I don’t have no symptoms,” said Cooper, who is preparing to enter grade 12 at St Augustine’s College in September. “So mentally, I’m okay. I’m good.”

After taking a few more tests, Cooper was hoping that she would have been able to leave town yesterday with Moss and coach Ronald Cartwright for Tokyo, but she has had to forgo the trip after the tests came back positive.

She’s currently in quarantine, but Cooper is confident that once she gets the green light, she will be able to resume training and get prepared for the World Athletics Junior World Championships, scheduled for Nairobi, Kenya, August 17-22. Cooper has qualified to compete in the 200m at that meet.

“This is not going to stop me from working hard. It’s not going to discourage me,” Cooper lamented. “I’m still going to work hard and be the best that I can be. My dreams have been shattered for this Olympics, but I will get over this and bounce back.”

According to coach Moss, it was quite disappointing, but he encouraged Cooper to remain positive about her future in the sport.

“I was attempting to at least hope that the test she took that day would have come back negative, so that she could travel with Megan,” said Moss, the father of Megan. “That didn’t happen, so I had to try and be as positive as I possibly could.

“I told her that there will be other opportunities for her to travel. 2020 is loaded with a lot of other major meets that she is more than capable of competing on. I mentioned Carifta, World Juniors in Colombia and of course the opportunity to be apart of the relay team again at the World Championships in Eugene, Oregon in July.”

Bahamas Olympic Committee’s president Rommel Knowles said it’s unfortunate that Cooper will not be able to make the trip.

“She is an exceptional talent,” Knowles said. “Could you imagine, at 17 years-old, she was named to the women’s 4 x 400m relay team. To be selected by your coaches is an awesome accomplishment for her. We look forward to nothing but greatness from her in the future.

“I have every expectations that she will represent our country well in future events and we look forward to seeing her very soon in international competition representing the Bahamas. Keep your eyes on Lacarthea. She’s an outstanding talent and we expect nothing but great things from her in the future.”

There’s nothing, however, like competing in the Olympics, the biggest sporting event on the planet and Cooper will now have to wait three more years for the next opportunity in 2024 in Paris, France from July 24 to August 11.

“Next time. I will be there in 2024,” she promised.