The Tribune

By RENALDO DORSETT

Sports Reporter

rdorsett@tribunemedia.net

The country finally had an opportunity to honour the full contingent of Team Bahamas for their heroic exploits at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

Buttons Formal Wear, in conjunction with the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, hosted a weekend of activities for Team Bahamas, highlighted by a ceremony of recognition at the Melia Resort yesterday.

Friends, family and well-wishers lauded the efforts of the 32- member team that concluded last month’s Olympiad with two medals - a gold from Shaunae Miller in the women’s 400m and bronze from the men’s 4x400m relay team of Chris Brown, Steven Gardiner, Michael Mathieu, Alonzo Russell and Stephen Newbold.

Veteran spinter Jamial Rolle offered a response on behalf of the athletes to lend insight into the Olympic experience and express gratitude for this weekend’s events.

“The Olympics are the apex of sport, so when you think about the Olympics it’s synonymous with hard work, dedication and sacrifice. That’s what went into everyone in Rio. Regardless of the outcome, everyone had high expectations of what they wanted to do and for whatever reason if that did not happen, we’re still thankful we had the opportunity to go there and qualify.

“It’s a tough road and we’re thankful for your support. Track is an individual sport but as a team we have that innate family sense of support for each other because you know the struggles they went through to get there,” he said.

“We want to give thanks to Buttons for allowing us to celebrate as a family and bring the whole team home. Thank you to the ministry for their added support, the BOC and the respective federations, we want to thank you all. I’d like to send a heartfelt thank you to Buttons Formal Wear for this unprecedented show of appreciation toward myself and my fellow Olympians. As someone who has sacrificed blood, sweat and tears and reached the precipice of sport which is the Olympics, this is held in high regard to me. I’m sure my fellow Olympians agree. I applaud you and I’m sure your philanthropic act will pay dividends for this team moving forward and for those to come.”

The swimming contingent of Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Dustin Tynes and Joanna Evans were unable to attend due to academic commitments at their respective universities.

Bahamas Swimming Federation President Algernon Cargill represented them at the event.

“Rio was fantastic. While our athletes did not have the performances they dreamed of, or our coaches prepared them for, they gave their best they had on that day and we are extremely proud of their effort,” he said. “What we can be extremely proud of is that they are a few that have dreamed, trained and made it to the Olympic Games. They can now proudly all call themselves Olympians. These exemplars of our sport represented us well. We are proud of their accomplishments and we could not have asked for a more committed and focused ambassadors of swimming.”

Vanderpool-Wallace fell short by one spot of getting into the final of the women’s 50m free, while Evans established a pair of national records in two of the three events she competed in and Tynes also made his Olympic debut.

“This support paves the way for greater things to come from our Olympic team in Tokyo,” Cargill said. “I can tell you that we will have the largest team ever to represent the Bahamas in the Olympic Games and I can’t wait. Let this experience be a springboard for even more success ahead.”

Bahamas Olympic Committee President Wellington Miller said the efforts of the athletes in their respective fields made them true ambassadors for the country.

“It is a pleasure for the BOC to take part and make sure our athletes compete. When they take part they give us an extra boost and people from all over the world know us because of our athletes,” he said. “What you have done, no government can pay for. I just want to thank the athletes for their competitive spirit, the hard work, the training and sacrifice for your country. We can never pay you back but we are happy to celebrate with you.”

Emily Morley was also recognised several times for her history-making efforts by becoming the first Bahamian to compete in rowing at the Olympic level. She finished sixth in the E final of the women’s single sculls.

Other highlights from the 28- member track and field team included Pedrya Seymour’s record breaking performance to make the final of the women’s 100m hurdles as well as Donald Thomas and Trevor Barry in the men’s high jump and the record-breaking feat by Lanece Clarke, Carmiesha Cox, Anthonique Strachan and Christine Amertil in the women’s 4 x 400m relay.

“Its great that Buttons brought us together as a team once again. In those two weeks in Rio we spent a lot of time we had a lot of fun and we were family,” Seymour said, I know the entire country was saying how proud they were of us but this really shows us how much they appreciated what we did. It’s overwhelming with everyone being proud and the process has been exciting. I’m just grateful to God for having such a successful and healthy season.”

Triple jumper, Leevan Sands echoed the sentiments of gratitude to the public and the event organisers.

“Knowing that people care and try to do things like this and try to show appreciation is a great thing,” he said, “This is how it should be. In the future I’d like to see more people come on board and try to do things like this because it means so much to see our hard work recognized.”

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Dr. Daniel Johnson, pledged that funding for elite athletes would increase in the immediate future.

“We want our younger athletes to be the beneficiaries of a real national sports programme. This ministry has a $15 million budget. After we pay salaries and improve the stadium we have $5 million left. Junkanoo takes another $3 million. The other $2 million a year goes to Bahamian athletes. Every elite athlete gets a check and the sports endowment fund, now $1.5 million goes out every year,” he said, “We are going to double that and double the athletes endowment this year. All finalists, all medalists, all coaches, support staff can contact us immediately because the endowments and incentives are ready and are at our office.”

After his fifth Olympic appearance and third medal, Chris Brown asked for the public’s continued support moving forward.

“We don’t want you to count us out when we don’t have a good season but we want the support all the time. Not just when we have a good season but when we are at our lowest point we need your support,” he said, “Moving forward are the World Relays. We lost to the US back to back the last two years. We are looking forward to defending our home soil and we intend to put together one of the best teams the Bahamas and the world has ever seen. Come 2017 may be my last time running in the Bahamas on home soil. Running with these group of guys I think the time has come for me to pass the baton. From the time I started to now I think these guys have earned their respect and support. We will be speaking with the minister on what we can do to make sure we have the unity, support and extra funding that we need.”

Following the joint event a convoy took take the athletes through the streets of New Providence, ending up at Arawak Cay and the Fish Fry where the Bahamian public at large had an opportunity to interact with the athletes.

“It was a pleasure for us to help organise this event with the assistance of the Ministry of Sports, the assistance of the BOC and the federations responsible for the various disciplines that represented us at the Olympics,” Buttons Formal Wear Manager and event co-ordinater Makeva Wallace said, “To the athletes we appreciate you and as long as we are all able to work together for the common good we would like to see another event put on. It’s about Bahamas first. It’s about supporting the athletes. We want them to feel welcomed, appreciated and that can only happen by coming together.”