The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SECRETARY General Romel ‘Fish’ Knowles said the Bahamas Olympic Committee is not quite yet ready to release the names of Team Bahamas going to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, next month.

While the deadline for athletes to quality was Sunday (July 11), Knowles said there are still a few more logistics that they have to deal with before they announce the team either Monday or Tuesday.

“The president (Wellington Miller) is away and he won’t be back until tomorrow (today),” Knowles said. “So we are just waiting on him to return so that we can finalise the list.

“But we are also waiting to see what happens with the Russian Olympic Committee, who is waiting on a court hearing. That will determine whether or not we will carry our women’s 4 x 400m relay team, which will increase the number of persons on the team.”

Knowles, however, said the BOC has decided to ratify all of the athletes who would have done the qualifying standard, including former co-national women’s 100m hurdle record holders Adanaca Brown and Devynne Charlton, who are both nursing injuries.

While Brown has not competed so far this year, Charlton ran indoors for Purdue University before she suffered a back injury that has forced her to shut down her outdoor season.

Additionally, Knowles said the BOC is waiting on a progress report from Latario Collie, who won the NCAA outdoor men’s triple jump on his first jump. Collie was forced to watch the remainder of the competition after he suffered a slight injury that hampered him from competing at the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ National Open Track and Field Championships.

The BAAA held the Nationals in June at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, which served as a final trial for the Olympics. However, the IAAF has extended the deadline for athletes to qualify to Monday, July 11, following the completion of the USA and European trials that weekend.

There were a few athletes whose names were submitted by the BAAA to the BOC for ratification. They competed in the Blue Marlin Track Classic on Independence Day to prove their fitness.

Also at the meet on Sunday, the BAAA ran a women’s 4 x 400m, a women’s 4 x 100m and two men’s 4 x 100m teams to secure one of the remaining eight spots to complete the top 16 spots for Rio.

The eight finalists in all four relays, including the men’s 4 x 400m, clinched their spots at the second IAAF World Relays that was held at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium last year.

At the Blue Marlin Classic, the women’s 4 x 400m team of Lanece Clarke, Camiesha Cox, Christine Amertil and Shequania Dorsett won the women’s 4 x 400m relay over Trinidad & Tobago and Jamaica to move into the 16th and final spot.

However, they will only be allowed to hold onto that position if Russia’s case in the Court of Arbitration for their suspension from the IAAF for doping violation by their country is not overturned.

The quartet, along with Collie, joined the list of the following athletes and coaches submitted by the BAAA to the BOC for ratification.

Ladies – Tynia Gaither, Sheniqua ‘Q’ Ferguson, Anthonique Strachan (100-200m), Shaunae Miller (200/400m), Pedrya Seymour (100m hurdles) and Bianca Stuart (long jump).

Men – Adrian Griffith, Jamial Rolle, Shavez Hart (100/200m), Demetrius Pinder (200m/4 x 400m); Terey Smith (200m); Steven Gardiner, Christopher Brown, Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu (400/4 x 400m), Stephen Newbold (4 x 400m), Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands (triple jump), Jeffery Gibson (400m hurdles) and Donald Thomas, Jamal Wilson and Trevor Barry (high jump).

Coaches – George Cleare (head coach), Rudolph Ferguson, Tyrone Burrows, Shaun Miller (assistant coaches), James Rolle (jumps) and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie (female coach).

Ralf McKinney is the team manager.

BAAA’s president Rosamunde Carey was unable to confirm or deny the list submitted.