The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HENRY Rolle, one of the personal coaches for the elite athletes, cleared up any misconception of the Bahamas not being able to field the best athletes for the IAAF/BTC World Relays Bahamas 2015, indicating that the Bahamas Association of Athletic Association’s selection committee knew in advance that the female athletes would only be competing in one event.

As the personal coach of both Anthonique Strachan and Sheniqua Ferguson, Rolle said the fate of the two athletes was decided since March and it was communicated to the BAAA selection committee that included Bahamas World Relays’ head coach Rupert Gardiner.

Rolle, an assistant coach at Auburn University, said during the NCAA Indoor Championships, he also spoke with Lance Brauman, the coach of Shaunae Miller, who indicated that she would only be running the 4 x 200 because he didn’t want her “sprinting so short that early in the season to risk injury.”

“I then decided that the 4 x 200 will be our best competitive relay and I would prepare my girls for that relay,” said Rolle after it was discovered that collegian Tynia Gaither was not available, Nivea Smith had retired and Cache Aermbrister was injured. “I indicated this to the BAAA relay committee that included Rupert Gardiner. They agreed.”

In preparation for the relays, Rolle said he agreed to submit the team of Strachan, Ferguson, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and Lanece Clarke to run together at the Penn Relays. He said instead of the team running under the Bahamas banner, he used the Caribbean All-Stars as the BAAA Relay Committee did not want to include Ferguson-McKenzie because she didn’t run sufficient races.

“Let it be known Debbie was not named to the World Relays team going into Penn,” Rolle said. “I decided to run Debbie to prove fitness to be considered for the World Relay teams. The BAAA Relay Committee to then select Debbie to the 4 x 100m pool that included Adanaca Brown, Brianne Bethel, Krystal Bodie, Tayla Carter and V’Alonee Robinson after Penn, which I felt was a competitive team to represent the country.”

By selecting the relay pool, Rolle said he felt the selection committee should stick with the pool. But after the women’s 4 x 200m team got disqualified and missed a golden opportunity to win a medal, Rolle said Gardiner approached Strachan, Ferguson and Miller to run on the 4 x 100 team.

“This was unprofessional after naming a team. He then had Anthonique phone me the day of competition asking to run the 4 x 100.  I simply told her no and met with the coaches reminding them about the selection meeting when they spoke to me,” Rolle said.

“It also would be wrong to pull the young girls whom they named to the team and brush them aside for Anthonique, Sheniqua and Shaunae to run. It would send the wrong message. Furthermore, I remember it was done to Debbie in 1996 in Atlanta, Anthonique in 2011 in Daegu and it was an emotional wreck for both ladies. We tend to forget easily and only can see so far.”

While there was an attack on the personal coaches, Rolle said more consideration should have been given on the final selection of the men’s 4 x 400m team going into the final with the addition of Steven Gardiner, the rookie member of the team.

“These guys needed to know who was running to be settled especially young Steven Gardiner before they came to the track the day of the 4x4 final, not an hour before the event,” Rolle said. “As a coach you make the right tough decisions and move forward. It seems like they want to be the athlete’s friend and not do their jobs. 

“I personally felt Rupert Gardiner’s decisions cost the Bahamas a gold in the 4 x 400 and the line was not thought through and explained to each member. It makes a vast difference, when you coach a relay team such as a 4 x 400, to explain your strategy and each member understands their role. You cannot put a line up together after the guys warm up and expect them to be mentally ready, especially a young guy like Steven Gardiner.”

Rolle said it was obvious Gardiner was rattled before the race and felt he had to do something special to overcome the lack of confidence the coach showed making a decision to run him. If he was coaching the team, Rolle said he would have used the combination of Gardiner, Michael Mathieu, Ramon Miller and Chris Brown, which would have had a better chance to defeat the USA.