The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas fielded a pool of seven runners to contest the 4x400m relay. However, despite initial reports to the contrary, only four members of the pool will be awarded gold medals for the historic relay win to conclude the Bahamas’ participation in the XXX Olympiad.

Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) vice president and Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) president Mike Sands confirmed that only the four participants in the semifinals and finals will be awarded.

Chris Brown, Demetrius Pinder, Michael Mathieu and Ramon Miller received gold medals from the IOC for their performance, while the other members of the relay pool include Andrae Williams, Avard Moncur and Wesley Neymour.

“There will be four runners that will be getting the medals. We react sometimes to information before we get all of the facts. I sought advice from the IAAF after the issue arose with the athletes and the number of medals and there was an erroneous assumption that they would be giving six medals. They clarified that there would be provisions for six medals if that amount of athletes compete and depending on the number of athletes that run. If its five runners, they will award five medals. If you recall back in 2000, Eldece Clarke-Lewis received the fifth medal, but there is not an automatic six medals that are given,” Sands said.

“There was erroneous information given initially that we reacted upon in terms of information that was provided to us. So the four runners that participated in the semifinals and the finals will receive medals and they will not give six medals.”

Moncur and Williams were members of the of the silver medal winning 4x400m relay team in Beijing in 2008 alongside Brown, Miller, Mathieu and Andretti Bain, while Neymour made his first Olympic appearance.

Moncur and Miller received medals from Beijing because they ran in the heats while the remaining members participated in the final.

“When the information came down, we had a meeting with the coaches and core group of relay runners because based on the information, we thought that we would be given six medals. We had seven runners there that was a part of the pool and so a decision had to be made based on how we would distribute based on the assumption that we would have six medals.

“We then called in the others and we had that discussion based on what the general consensus was. However, that decision became moot when we learned there would be four medals awarded,” Sands said. “I would like for us to take off of this and see if we can continue with this spirit of camaraderie and see if we can heal ourselves. I think we don’t need to dwell on the negativity of what would have transpired, especially under the circumstances.”