The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

ALTHOUGH the meeting was interrupted by three outgoing officers, who were totally disappointed in the structural set up for the elections, the Bahamas Olympic Committee went on to elect its new executive board to serve for the next four years.

Returning as president at the Police headquarters Friday night was Wellington Miller with a 10-3 decision over incumbent treasurer Larry Wilson, who refused to stay around for the elections after he tabled his un-audited report.

Presiding officer journalist Fred Sturrup had objected to Wilson’s insistence that both the president and the treasurer’s reports should be entertained before presiding with the elections. Sturrup said they were not on the agenda. Diane Miller, incumbent assistant treasurer and David “Stretch” Morley, one of the incumbent vice presidents, all objected and eventually walked out.

The elections, however, went on with Sturrup being assisted by director of sports, Tim Munnings, and former secretary general Larry Davis. Richard Peterkin, a member of the International Olympic Committee, served as an observer.

Following the return of Miller to his post by the 13 voting delegates, the six vice president positions were filled with Iram Lewis, first vice president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, Derron Donaldson, president of the Bahamas Lawn Tennis Association, Cora Hepburn, first vice president of the Bahamas Gymnastics Federation and Joseph Smith, president of the Bahamas Volleyball Federation, all of whom received 10, Robert Butler, vice president of the Bahamas Taekwondo Federation, who got nine and returning Bahamas Cycling Federation president Roy Colebrooke, who had eight.

Surprisingly not elected were International Amateur Athletic Association’s council member Pauline Davis-Thompson, who collected five votes, BAAA president Mike

Sands, who had four, Algernon Cargill, Bahamas Swimming Federation president, with three, Dianne Miller with three, Charlie ‘Softly’ Robins, Bahamas Basketball Federation president, with two, and Larry Wilson two.

Also, Romell Knowles was returned as secretary general 10-3 over Cargill, while Kathryn Dillette was re-elected unopposed as the assistant secretary.

And for the post of treasurer, Darcy Ryan, president of the Bahamas Judo Federation, won 10-3 over Wilson and Clarence Rolle, president of the Bahamas Wrestling Federation, won 12-1 over Diane Miller for the post of assistant treasurer.

“Thanks to God for his blessings on me,” said Miller in his acceptance speech. “I want to say thanks to all of the member associations for their support. I intend to do my best to work hard in supporting the Olympic movement and its values for the betterment of our athletes.

“I am available to work with any sporting organisation so that we can encourage sports throughout the Bahamas.”

Miller said despite all the “noise in the market,” they had a good, strong chairman who chaired the meeting and he stuck with the agenda and they got the elections off the ground, after having had to delay it from last year because of some constructional changes that had to be ratified by the IOC.

“Now it’s time to get down to work,” he said. “We heard from the IOC member that there is a lot of money available, so we have to go after it and ensure that our athletes and coaches get the full benefit of what is due to them.”

On the newly elected board, Miller said it’s a very good, optimistic group that he will be happy to work with. I think we are going to do a great job together because they are ready to work,” he said. “I believe that you will see a new Bahamas Olympic Committee because what you saw here tonight is history. We saw the last president of the Bahamas Olympic Association and the first president of the Bahamas Olympic Committee.”

Fresh off his recent election as the first vice president of the BAAA last year, Lewis got the nomination over Mike Sands and Pauline Davis-Thompson from the BAAA and was elected on his first trip as a first vice president of the BOC, a feat that he said he doesn’t take too lightly.

“I’m thankful for the opportunity to serve. I know there’s a lot of work to do and I intend to be an active part of that,” Lewis said. “I intend to go out there and learn as much as I can, listen to all of the advice from the elder statesmen and study the constitution to make sure that we can get the maximum benefits for our athletes.”

Lewis said there were a lot of persons disappointed that they were not voted in, but the BOC has a good cross section of members from the various organisations, whom he feels can only take the organisation further.

A bit of history was made for 24-year-old Derron Donaldson, as he followed his election to the BLTA as the youngest person ever elected to serve as a vice president or any position for that matter in the BOA.

“It’s an overwhelming experience,” Donaldson said. “I don’t know. I was very nervous because it’s a big board and I’m still learning, trying to figure everything about it. Hopefully I will be guided accordingly and I can make a good performance.”

Having got caught up in all of the rambling that came with the elections, Donaldson said he’s happy that it’s now all over and they can start to concentrate on the job at hand and that is running the BOC the way it should be run.

It was also history in the making for Cora Hepburn, who was the first female to be elected to a vice president position. “I am happy with the results. I think we have a good selection. We have some history with the first and youngest vice president in Derron Donaldson and I’m the first female president holding a position, so I think we can do some good things,” she said.

“One of the things we need to do is do some awareness in terms of the Olympic movement and a lot of policy procedures need to be put in place because there are a number of things that need to be fixed. I heard some things prior to the elections over the past month and some have been disheartening. I spoke with all of the past officers and I expressed how disappointed I was with regard to their administration over the past four years. I have actually called over and over for the reports and I expressed my disappointment that a financial report was never tabled over the past four years.”

If she has a say in it, Hepburn said the BOC will be subjected to corporate governance with transparency and fair play coming to the forefront in the next four years during their term in office.

Another new member is Joseph “Joe Mo” Smith, who indicated that he is just excited to serve. “Service has always been my thing,” he said. “I want to serve my country and my fellow man and try to bring some stability to our organisation in terms of our athletes getting the maximum that they need. I’m all for people. I’m a people’s person and I want to see things happen for people.”

As a member of the BOC, Smith said it’s his objective to ensure that the athletes have a voice, so he’s excited to serve with the core of the new group of officers who will try to take the BOC to the next level.

For Roy Colebrooke, getting the opportunity to continue to serve was an awesome feeling. “Clearly our sporting bodies wanted better than what was happening and as you look around the BOC table now, you will see a lot of the small sports who are represented on the board,” Colebrooke said. “We believe that they need to get the assistance so that in the next Olympics, we will have more representation than just the two disciplines that we had at the last Olympics. So I am just excited to see the persons around the board this time and what can be done for sports in the country.”