The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

WHILE the Bahamas Olympic Committee’s election of officers is all set for Friday night at the Paul Farquharson Building at Royal Bahamas Police Force headquarters, the nominations of persons vying for the various spots were completed over the weekend.

The elections should have been held during the annual general meeting last November, but it was called off after the International Olympic Committee had refused to approve or sanction the elections because of two critical points that were brought to their attention that needed to be addressed urgently.

One of the issues was whether or not the current executive members should be allowed to vote in the elections or any further elections. The IOC, the government body for the BOC, has indicated that the executives should not be allowed to vote and it should be amended in their constitution.

The other issue was whether or not the secretary general’s position will be filled by a representative who will not be paid. It is an executive position.

At an emergency meeting on Thursday, November 15, 2012, the BOC held a vote that was passed 13-7 in favour of the executives not voting and the general secretary not being paid. Three weeks ago, the IOC finally agreed to the amendments in the constitution and allowed the BOC to go ahead with their elections, which is slated to begin 7pm Friday.

A total of 13 federations from athletics, swimming, tennis, basketball, boxing, cycling, football, gymnastics, judo, sailing, taekwondo, volleyball and wrestling will be eligible to vote once for the positions for the president, the six vice presidents, a secretary general and assistant secretary general as well as the treasurer and assistant treasurer.

While Wellington Miller serves as the current president, the vice presidents are Algernon Cargill, Roy Colebrooke, Don Cornish, David Morley, Mike Sands and Anton Sealey.

The secretary general is Romell Knowles, assisted by Kathryn Dillette. The treasurer is Larry Wilson, assisted by Dianne Miller.

Although they are listed on the BOC’s website, baseball and softball are no longer Olympic sports and so they are not eligible to vote. Rugby and golf have been added to the Olympics, but they have not been officially added to the BOC, so they won’t be eligible to vote. Equestrian is also listed on the BOC’s website, but they are not eligible to vote as they are also not a part of the Olympics.

Wellington Miller, president of the Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas, was nominated for another four-year term in office. But he will be challenged by Larry Wilson, former treasurer of the Bahamas Basketball Federation, David Morley, former president of the BBF and Anton Sealey, president of the Bahamas Football Association.

The nominees for vice presidents are Mike Sands (BAAA president), Roy Colebrooke (Bahamas Cycling Federation president), Algernon Cargill (Bahamas Swimming Federation president), Don Cornish (former Bahamas Volleyball Federation president), Iram Lewis (BAAA first vice president), Derron Donaldson (Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association president), Joseph “Joe Mo” Smith (Bahamas Volleyball Federation president), Pauline Davis-Thompson (IAAF council member), Dianne Miller (former Bahamas Softball Federation secretary), Cora Hepburn, Charlie “Softly” Robbins (BBF president), Larry Wilson, David Morley and Robert Butler.

Romell Knowles, former president of the BSF, and Algernon Cargill have both been nominated for secretary general while Kathryn Dillette is the only name submitted for the assistant spot. Dillette comes from the BSF where she served as an executive.

Nominated for treasurer are D’Arcy Rahming, Larry Wilson and Larry Glinton. The nominees for assistant treasurer are Dianne Miller, Crystal Forbes, Cora Hepburn and Clarence Rolle.

Lewis (athletics), Donaldson (tennis), Smith (volleyball), Davis-Thompson (athletics), Hepburn (volleyball), Robbins (basketball), Butler (taekwondo), Rahming (judo), Glinton (tennis), Forbes (volleyball) and Rolle (taekwondo) are vying for a position on the executive board for the first time.

After a contentious process when the last elections were attempted, the question is whether or not calmer heads will prevail and allow the elections to go on without any interference on Friday.

The new executive board will have the responsibility of getting Team Bahamas ready for the XX Commonwealth Games in Glasgow July 23 to August 3, 2014, the XVII Pan American Games, scheduled for July 10-26, 2015, in Toronto, Canada and the XXXI Olympiad in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5-21, 2016.