The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Grand Bahamians Tammy Stubbs – she retained her gold medal in the women’s lightweight division – and Dominique Wilkinson picked up her first gold in the Body Fitness Short Class division to highlight the performance of the Bahamas’ 11-member team.

Team Bahamas finished fourth overall at the 40th Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships in San Juan, Puerto Rico, over the weekend.

The Bahamas, which honoured its founding president, the late Hubert Wong, at the two-day event, was among the 25 countries and 152 athletes that participated.

In addition to the two gold medals, the Bahamas also got a silver in the lightweight category from men’s national champion Jimmy Norius, who made his international debut.

Also, Grand Bahamian Charnice Bain took bronze in the women’s fitness category, Naomi Fatal got a bronze in the Bikini, Dawn Lynette Charlton was fourth in the women’s fitness and Dawnita Fry came in fifth in the women’s Body Fitness Tall Class.

The other members of the team, all of whom didn’t get into the final, were Sidney ‘Butts’ Outten in the men’s heavyweight division, Dennis Bain in men’s welterweight, Vincent Paul and Amos Rolle in light heavyweight and Andrew Sweeting in middleweight.

The Bahamas didn’t field a team in the mixed pairs this year.

“It was a small team, but it was a very good team,” said Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation president Danny Sumner. “The team fought courageously. The competition was stiff, very stiff.”

Puerto Rico, as the host nation, fielded a large contingent of 32 athletes, but they surprisingly had to settle for second place behind Barbados.

Curacao, by the way, knocked the Bahamas out of the third place position it was defending by virtue of having the overall male and female bodybuilders, who both earned their professional cards as a result of their victories.

“Curacao was very strong this year. This was the strongest that we have seen Curacao in a very long time,” Sumner said. “They had a very good performance over there.”

As for the Bahamas, Sumner said they had aniticipated a few more competitors travelling with the team, but they opted not to compete for one reason or the other.

“We had a very small team, but we did very well over there,” he said. “We had 11 athletes and seven of them placed in the medal round. The medal round starts from sixth place because in the semifinal, the elimination takes place and all of the six competitors left are eligible for medals.

“And based on their performances in the final, that determines how the points are accumulated for the overall team champions.”

Sumner noted that the competition at the championships, which returned to its birthplace, was highly contested in every division.

“All of the countries came prepared because they all wanted to be a part of history for the 40th anniversary,” Sumner said. “The countries came out strong. We came out strong and we did the best that we could with the size of the team that we had over there. So I want to congratulate all of those athletes who represented the country, whether they placed or not.”

During the CAC Federation Congress, Sumner was awarded with a meritos award for “outstanding and dedicated service” to bodybuilding. The certificate was presented by CAC president Giovanni Arendsz of Aruba. Sumner serves as the assistant to the president. He also holds the position as the area president for the Antilles region, which includes 11 countries - the Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, Cuba, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, Trinidad & Tobago, the Cayman Islands and the Turks & Caicos Islands.

The next CAC Championships in 2013 will be held in the Dominican Republic, either in late September or early October, depending on the date for the Mr Olympia.

In the meantime, Sumner said the BBFF will be looking at hosting a high school championship between New Providence and Grand Bahama as well as an Armed Force Championships for the Royal Bahamas Police and Defence Forces and Her Majesty’s Prisons, Fox Hill.