The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

North American, Central American and Caribbean President Mike Sands was thrilled by the performances he saw from the athletes representing the region at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Sands, a former president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, said the performances at the 33rd Olympiad were just an indication of his claim that NACAC is one of the strongest areas in the World Athletics body.

“The NACAC area took the games by storm. The performances all spoke for themselves,” Sands said. “NACAC amassed about 50 medals, including 17 gold, 16 silver and 17 bronze.

“That does not account for the three area records, a number of national records, a number of personal bests and of course, a number of finalists, so I’m very proud to be associated with the NACAC area athletes under the circumstances.”

Those performances, according to Sands, have to be attributed to the phenomenal coaching expertise in the region from North America all the way down to South America, Central America and the rest of the Caribbean.

“It also bodes well for the determination of our athletes to maintain NACAC’s prominence on the world stage,” he said. “So I commend all of our area member federations who participated in the Olympic Games and particularly those who were able to medal.

“So I’m looking forward to this continued dominance from our area athletes as we move forward, particularly to next year when the World Championships is staged in the area in the United States.”

The World Championships is scheduled for Eugene, Oregon, from July 15-24 when Sands said he anticipates that the NACAC region will once again play a pivotal role in the outcome of many of the races as they did in Tokyo.

While in Tokyo, representing NACAC, Sands got a chance to participate in three medal presentations for the women’s 100 and 200- metres and the men’s 400m.

Jamaica stood predominantly on top of the dias with a sweep in the 100m and Elaine Thompson-Herah returned to win her second straight Olympic sprint double in the 200m.

But Sands said he was even more thrilled when given the opportunity to participate in the medal presentation for the men’s 400m that saw Bahamian Steven Gardiner earn his first Olympic gold medal.

“For me, it was a very, very humbled experience. I felt very, very proud, I felt very, very honoured to have been invited and while there was some level of expectation, I was pleasantly surprised that I was asked, not once, but three times,” Sands said.

“To be able to stand next to Stevie Gardiner during the playing of our national anthem, I won’t be honest if I told you, I was able emotionally with pride standing next to Stevie and listening to our national anthem and so I was honoured to have been asked to participate in the awards presentations.”

World Athletics, the governing body for the sport and the International Olympic Committee, the organisers of the games, collaborate to determine who is selected to present the medals and flowers to the athletes during the ceremonies.

Sands said persons are not aware that they are the presenters until the morning of the ceremony when they receive a congratulatory message slipped under the door when they wake up.

With the games - delayed from last year because of the coronavirus pandemic - over and done with, Sands said he’s eager to see the performances from NACAC at the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, August 17-22. “NACAC will make its presence felt and the Bahamas will make its presence felt,” Sands said. “I don’t want to single out any particular athletes, but looking at the makeup of Team Bahamas, I think we will have some very good performances.

“I also believe that they will receive the motivation and stimulus from our athletes in Tokyo, particularly Shaunae (Miller-Uibo) and Stevie (Gardiner) . I think they will step up their game because this is their Olympic Games and they will continue to make the Bahamas proud.”

Team Bahamas. heading to Nairobi on Friday, will be led by junior men’s 400 metre national record holder, Wendell Miller; men’s javelin record holder Keyshawn Strachan and female sprinter Lacarthea Cooper, who was named to the Olympic team as a member of the women’s 4 x 400m relay pool, but couldn’t travel because of Covid-19.

Should be given another opportunity to participate in the medal presentations at the championships in Nairobi, Sands said he would be equally pleased as he was in Tokyo, if there’s a Bahamian on top of the dais once again.