The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

2016 is expected to be a busy one for the Bahamas Olympic Committee with the XXXI Olympic Games set for August 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

BOC president Wellington Miller said they are anticipating a banner year for the Bahamas and he’s expecting for at least three more sporting bodies to join the customary Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, Bahamas Swimming Federation and Amateur Boxing Federation of the Bahamas.

“We hope to have a sizeable team in Brazil this year,” Miller said. “Everything for us right now is focused on the Olympics and getting our athletes ready to compete. We are charging our athletes to get prepared and encouraging the federations to ensure that they are ready.

“We want to be able to take down a very strong team to the Olympic Games. We know that a lot of the athletes have already done the qualifying standards and those who haven’t are getting themselves ready to qualify. Many of the qualifications are going to be early this year, so we want them to make sure that they get qualified.”

By March, Miller said they will have to be submitting the early entries of names of athletes who would have qualified and they will get a chance to add some names of potential athletes who are close to qualifying so that in the event that they do qualify, their names would have already been submitted.

“We hope that we can have at least 5-6 different sports competing at the games,” Miller said. We are looking at sports like judo, gymnastics and cycling to be included in the list that already has athletes from track and field, swimming and boxing.

“We want to let the world know that we are more than just those few sports and that we can compete at a high level in other sports.”

Unlike in the past where athletes were given an invitation to compete in the games, Miller said the athletes all have to earn their berth by qualifying to compete in the Olympiad.

Even though they were not mentioned, Miller said the sport of sailing is going through a revitalisation and while they may not be included this year, they could be back as early as 2020 with youthful Paul de Souza leading the way.

So far, the BOC has only selected vice president Roy Colebrooke as the chef de mission for Team Bahamas.

All of the other positions will be filled as soon as the BOC has an idea of the size of the team and who has qualified to represent the Bahamas in the various disciplines.