The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

SO, who will make up Team Bahamas for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5-21?

While Emily Morley was invited as the first Bahamian to compete in rowing, boxing’s six-member team fell short at the final AIBA World Qualifying Group held recently in Baku, Azerbaijan. No other competitors were considered in tennis, nor did any sailor qualify in sailing, two of the sports the Bahamas had representation in during past Olympics.

So that leaves just athletics (track and field) and aquatics (swimming).

Both national sporting bodies held their National Championships over the weekend at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre where there was just one outright qualifier in the two sporting bodies.

At the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex, the Bahamas Swimming Federation saw collegian Joanna Evans secure her trip to Rio by erasing her own Bahamian and national records by clocking 8 minutes and 33.97 seconds to win the women’s 800 metres freestyle to go under the A qualifying standard.

She was sitting on the border with a B qualifying mark and will join Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, who booked her ticket prior to the nationals in both the women’s 50 and 100m free. At the nationals, Vanderpool-Wallace won both events to once again go under the automatic cut of 25.28 with her time of 24.98 and she dipped under the B time of 56.34, winning in 54.52.

Two male swimmers, Elvis Burrows and Dustin Tynes, will have another opportunity this week to improve on their respective B qualifying times and surpass the A standards during the Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships at the stadium.

If they fail, Burrows and Tynes would have to wait until FINA makes their final selection on the remaining swimmers invited to complete the final list of entries for all of the events in Rio. The CISC serves as the final qualifying meet as the FINA is expected to release the names as early as Monday.

So if the BSF doesn’t get all four swimmers in, they will at least have two automatic qualifiers. But we’re hoping that Burrows and Evans will be granted permission to join Vanderpool-Wallace and Evans.

On the other hand, the situation is a little different for the athletic team.

While the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations held a selection meeting on Sunday to submit the list of athletes they are going to recommend to the BOC, based on their qualifications and their inclusion for the relays, the International Amateur Athletic Federation has a little longer period to complete their final list of participants in Rio.

The final decisions will be made on Monday, July 11, one day after former quarter-miler Demaris Cash hosts the Blue Marlins Track Classic on Sunday, July 10 - yes, Independence Day - at the new Thomas A Robinson National Stadium.

The meet, which is expected to attract a number of international stars, will be used mainly by the BAAA for all four relay teams – men and women 4 x 100 and 4 x 400m – to solidify their positions going into Rio.

The relays don’t have any qualifying times, so the IAAF will take the teams who post the top 16 times in order to make up the field. So there’s a chance that the Bahamas could field all four teams in the Olympics.

As for the individual performances, the only new competitor to qualify was quarter-miler Alonzo Russell in the men’s 400m. In the hotly contested marquee event, Russell ran 45.25 seconds for second place to become the fourth Bahamian to run under the qualifying standard of 45.40.

He joins national champion Steven Gardiner, who successfully defended his title in winning the race in 44.46. Veteran Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown was third in 45.59 and Michael Mathieu was sixth in 46.29.

The flip side of the coin is the fact that only three competitors can compete for a country, unless they are given an exception as the defending champions as will be the case with countries like the United States and Jamaica, who have multiple qualifiers.

The Bahamas also had the potential of having to make a decision on the men’s high jump with four legitimate competitors eligible to compete in Rio. But Ryan Ingraham eliminated himself when he finished fourth, failing to surpass the qualifying standard.

As it pans out, the top three jumpers - Donald Thomas, Trevor Barry and Jamal Wilson - finished in that position to clinch their berths on the team without having to go into any further discussion on who should go and who should stay home.

Now, the majority of the discussion will be had on who should make up the teams for the relays and whether or not those athletes who qualified already, but didn’t compete in the nationals because of injuries, will have to go through a fitness test or they don’t go at all.

In the case of the 4 x 100m for both teams, the competitors normally are selected based on their performances in the 100m, but there are some athletes who competed in the 200, who didn’t contest the 100. They have done times in the 100 prior to the nationals that were faster than some who did just the 100 at the trials.

So again, it’s an intriguing question that will be answered very soon: Who will make up Team Bahamas for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, August 5-21?