The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

FOR the third consecutive time, former Bahamas Olympic Committee president Wellington Miller will serve as a technical delegate for the Pan American Games.

Miller will be leaving town on Tuesday for the games, scheduled for October 20 to November 5 in Santiago, Chile. This year’s trip comes on the heels of Miller’s appearance at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Salvador, El Salvador, in July.

Prior to this year, Miller also participated in the 2015 Pan Am Games in Toronto, Canada, on the coordination committee and then in the games in 2019 in Lima, Peru, as a member of the Technical Committee.

“It gives me a feeling of pride and gratification to know that you have accomplished something to the point that they continue to ask for you to come back again and again on the Technical Committee,” Miller said.

“The Technical Committee runs the games during the whole time that the games are in progress. So, for me, it’s a great step forward and particularly for the Bahamas to see that we are being recognised as a country who have someone who is fluent in technical matters.”

Miller said he’s very proud to be a Bahamian representing the country as a manager of these high-level sporting competitions.

The Pan American Games is the third on a list of four events organised by the International Olympic Committee. In order of priority are the CAC Games, Pan American, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics, which all run every other year and every four years in between.

As a member of the Technical Committee, Miller has to ensure that the games are operated at a high level, following all of the Olympic procedures. They oversee all of the judges, referees and technical supporters and to make sure that the games start on time and everything is in place for a smooth operation. “It’s a huge responsibility. That is why we have to go there in advance to make sure that everything is in place,” Miller pointed out. “They have to pass the games over to us at least a week before the games, so we have to make sure that everything is in place.”

While he is the first Bahamian to serve on the Technical Committee at the games three times, Miller said he’s hoping that the step will be the Olympic Games next year in Paris, France. He’s also looking at achieving the same feat at the next Commonwealth Games in 2026 at a venue yet to be revealed.

A retired Immigration Officer, Miller has served as an executive in amateur boxing for 25 years. He was first elected as president in 1984 until 2000. He had decided to take some time off to raise his two young sons, but Miller was asked to serve as vice president under Alvin Sargent that same year. At the next election in 2004, he was re-elected as president until he demitted office for good in 2017.

However, Miller was then elected to serve as a vice president in the BOC under the leadership of the late Arlington Butler in 2000. After serving two consecutive terms, he was elected in 2008 as the president, serving in that capacity until 2018 when Rommel Knowles was first elected as the new president.

Last October, Miller was invested with the Companion Order of Merit in an official ceremony on National Heroes Day at the Baha Mar Resort by the Bahamas Government. The following month in November, he indicted into the National Hall of Fame by the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.