The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

JUST over a month after initial plans to host the event were disclosed, the Bahamas Olympic Committee officially announced plans to pay homage to 40 Bahamian women for their contributions in local sports.

The Women and Sports Commission of the Bahamas Olympic Committee will award the outstanding sportswomen in a gala banquet slated for 1pm November 9 at the Atlantis resort’s Crown Ballroom, under the theme “Celebrating the Success of Women in Sports.”

BOC president Wellington Miller said the highly anticipated recognition will be held under the patronage of Betty Cole, swimming icon and sports philanthropist, and Cynthia “Mother” Pratt, former deputy prime minister, outstanding athlete, coach and mentor.

“We in The Bahamas Olympic Committee deem it very important to honour these 40 women who have contributed to The Bahamas being known as a sports power around the world. In fact they have become examples for many young women in sports around The Bahamas today,” he said.

“Now that their competition days are past, many of these outstanding women continue to give by coaching other women in the various sports and on the benefits of becoming good role models through sports. The Olympic Movement in The Bahamas can only benefit from helping to honour these 40 outstanding sportswomen. We intend that this will become a yearly calendar event for The Bahamas Olympic Committee in honouring women through sports.”

The list of honourees will be announced at a later date.

Women and Sports Commission chairman Cora Hepburn said the BOC, through the mandate of the president, has set the example for women’s involvement in sports.

Hepburn made history in 2012 when she became the first female elected to the post of BOC vice president in over 60 years. “Since my election to office as vice president of the BOC, I have been tasked by the president to chair the Women and Sports Commission.

“Having played sports and elevating to administration, I know and have experienced first hand some of the challenges that we as women have to confront in sports,” she said. “The role of the Woman And Sports Commission is to advise the BOC executive board on the policy to deploy in the area of women in sports.”

The BOC has always had a close connection with the issue of women in sports, as the Oympic Games has always been a major platform for the women of the Bahamas to make an impact on the local and international sporting landscape.

It was the Bahamas’ “Golden Girls” 4x100m relay team of Pauline Davis-Thompson, Chandra Sturrup, Savetheda Fynes and Eldece Clark-Lewis that won the country’s first Olympic medal in athletics at the 1996 Atlanta Games with a silver in their signature event.

The addition of Debbie Ferguson-MeKenzie saw the team follow with a gold medal in 2000 in Greece.

Additionally, the Bahamas’ only individual gold medals in athletics were won by women when Davis-Thompson won gold in the 200m in Greece and Tonique-Williams Darling followed in the 400m in Athens 2004.

Hepburn said she hopes that placing a greater focus on women in sports and support from the BOC will influence its member federation to place more women in leadership roles.