The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net In a bid to help jumpstart their preparation for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, the Bahamas Olympic Committee has received a grant of $100,000 from the International Olympic Committee. But BOC president Wellington Miller said while they are grateful for the donation, they are still seeking the public's financial support because it will take a lot more to get the entire team to London, England, in July for the biggest global sporting spectacular. "Although we have gotten this donation from the IOC, we are still hoping that corporate Bahamas will come on board," Miller said. "Getting the athletes prepared for the Olympics is a very costly venture. The IOC has given us $100,000 for preparation but for getting the amount of teams prepared to go to London is quite costly. So we are still asking for all of corporate Bahamas to come on board because every athlete needs some special training to get to the Olympics." By next month, Miller said the IOC intends to have a press conference to announce all of its plans leading up to the games and present the management team already selected. So far, the chef de mission for the team is Roy Colebrooke who was praised for his leadership as chef de mission for the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi, India, two years ago. Miller said the BOC is busy ensuring that there are no hiccups when it comes to ensuring that all of the athletes who have the potential to make the team are properly documented, which is normally the biggest obstacle that they are faced with. "We are getting everybody registered. The committee has sent in names of everybody who we feel might make it to the Olympics so they are in the data bank," he said. "If they qualify, they we won't have any problems making sure that they are registered. "Next month is the deadline to have everybody's information submitted to the London organising committee. That is what the BOC's office is doing right now. We know that there are a number of athletes who have qualified and there are others who are still trying." So far, there are a number of athletes already qualified in track and field, one in swimming, two boxers are on the verge of qualifying and the beach volleyball team is still trying to make its breakthrough as the first team sport for the Bahamas. The quartet of Renaldo Knowles, Mueller Petit, Prince Wilson and Byron Ferguson are scheduled to leave on Wednesday for the third round of the Central American and Caribbean regional qualifying tournament. "I don't have the full story on the beach volleyball players, but I heard they are pretty close to qualifying," Miller stated. "We can only encourage them and offer whatever assistance we can to help them qualify. "But we have all of their information in our bank in order that they do qualify. That would be great because the more people who qualify the better for us. We are looking forward to getting as many athletes qualified as possible." From May 4-13 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the duo of Valentino Knowles and Carl Hield are scheduled to participate in the final round of qualifying. "The two boxers are in good stead of qualifying from the Americas," according to Miller, who also serves as the president of the Amateur Boxing Association of the Bahamas. "Valentino is rated at number two in the Americans and Carl Hield is rated number five. "They are only taking 38 more boxers from the Americas. So if we look at the rating, this should qualify. But unfortunately, you don't look at the qualifying because you have to go out there and box. You might just have a bad night and the other guy might have a good night, so we are looking forward to them being in good shape." In preparation for the final trials, Miller said the two boxers, accompanied by national coach Andre Seymour, are scheduled to leave for another Olympic training camp for about a week before they go to Brazil.