The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

LONDON, England: Pauline Davis-Thompson was busy with her duties as a Councilwoman for the International Amateur Athletic Federation at the 16th IAAF World Championships. But it didn't stop her from checking in on Team Bahamas' performances - and being highly critical of some of the athletes.

The Bahamas finished tied for 30th on the medal chart with a silver from Steven Gardiner in the men's 400 metres and a bronze from Shaunae Miller-Uibo in the women's 200m. The Bahamas also ended up tied with three others for 22nd overall.

"I expected that we would have done better, truth be told," said Davis-Thompson, a former Golden Girl for the Bahamas at the championships. "Yes, we won a silver medal and a bronze medal, but I expected more from our team.

"We've had outstanding athletes in the past and I feel like these athletes of today are more gifted than we were and more talented. They don't seemed to be as focused. It seemed as if they lack focus. They have the ability, but they are not focused."

As one of the proudest athletes to wear the word Bahamas on the chest of her aquamarine, gold and black uniform, Davis-Thompson said she's noticed that the athletes of today are "selfish" and "self-centered".

"They seemed to think that it is a right to be on the Bahamian team instead of it being a privilege," she stressed. "It's a privilege to compete for your country and to put on the colours of your country. I just was a bit disappointed in some of our athletes."

Davis-Thompson didn't pinpoint anyone in particular, but she said that over the last few years, there's been an issue of some of the elite athletes on the team not being fully prepared to represent the Bahamas, especially when it comes down to the relays, the most exciting events in any games or championships.

Based on what she's seen, Davis-Thompson said the Bahamas Government should take another look at how the money is spent on the athletes who are subvented and go to a reward system instead.

"In other words, I think the subvention should reviewed in whatever event the government deemed to be important by putting a price tag on it," she said. "If you come to the trials and you make the national team, you get x-amount of money. It should be performance based.

"No longer should you get money or collect subvention and the athletes are not performing up to par. It should be performance based. I also don't believe that because you are put on a relay team that you should be put on subvention."

Davis-Thompson said all athletes should perform to earn the right to be paid.

She reflected on the era when she competed with the Golden Girls - Savatheda Fynes, Chandra Sturrup, Eldece Clarke and Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie. She noted that they performed first and then the government rewarded them for their efforts.

"The older I get and the more I see the young people perform today, the more I am proud of my Golden Girls," she stated. "We had issues, but it was never no doubt that we would have gone out there and put on a show for the country.

"We always felt blessed, first of all, to be Bahamians, secondly to go out there and to represent our country and all Bahamians. I was proud of us then, but I am more and more proud of us now because I know how hard we worked to bring honour to our country."

The talented group of young ladies represented the Bahamas at every level from the Carifta Games to the World Championships and the Olympic Games, not only winning medals of every colour as a team, but individually.

"What I see happening with our team right now really saddens me," she said. "For the lack of respect, I cannot comprehend or understand how you teach Bahamian pride. How do you teach Bahamian sportsmanship and Bahamian pride to these young people?" she asked.

"Obviously, something is amiss, something is wrong. The older athletes, we were Bahamians to our core, but these younger athletes, it's all about me, me, me and this self-centered, selfish attitude that they have. Some of them are not performing up to par and they expect to be continuing to collect the Bahamian money."

Looking back at the championships, Davis-Thompson said the performances were unpredictable, not only for the Bahamas, but for a lot of the countries, including Jamaica, the United States and host Great Britain.

"It saddens me to see our great one Usain Bolt go out the way he did, but he's still the greatest," she stressed. "I would have love to see him out with a victory, but it's not going to take anything away from what he's accomplished over the years.

"It won't change because what he's done for our sport, how he has transcended it, I don't think we will ever be able to pay him in dollar figure, but I hope that he understands how much our sport truly loves him and how we respect him for what he has done, unblemished as the consummate showman."

Before and during the championships, Davis-Thompson had duties to perform as a member of the IAAF.

One of them was to serve as a presenter, giving out awards to the deserving athletes at the medal presentation. She would have done about four presentations, but Davis-Thompson said the ones that stood out the most were to those athletes who collected re-classification medals from previous World Championships as a result of others testing positive for banned substances.

"When I joined the IAAF, I was very adamant about getting those athletes who were denied the opportunity to receive their medals as a result of persons who would have cheated to get their medals," said Davis-Thompson, who was eventually elevated from silver to gold in the women's 200m at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sidney, Australia, the same year that the Golden Girls won the women's 4 x 100m title.

"I was so glad that they got this opportunity to do so in front of all those people in the stadium. It was such a honour for them and I was glad that the IAAF gave me a chance to present some of them because I was one who really pushed for them to get them."

Davis-Thompson, 51, also won two World Championships, the first coming in Seville, Spain in 1999 when the Golden Girls won the women's 4 x 100m relay. The other came in 1995 in Gothenburg, Sweden when she secured the silver in the women's 200m.