The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

IT doesn’t matter who is right and who is wrong. The Bahamas Olympic Committee and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations are finally on the same page over the controversy surrounding whether either or both quarter-milers Shania Adderley and Lacarthea Cooper should go to the 2024 Olympic Games.

Just four days before the start of the games in Paris, France, the BOC and the BAAA released a joint statement endorsing their united stance to take both athletes as a part of Team Bahamas. 

But there was no indication of who will be included on the mixed 4x 400 metre relay team or who will be there as an alternate.

The joint statement, signed by both Romell Knowles, president of the BOC and Drumeco Archer, president of the BAAA, read as follows: 

“With a long-standing relationship between the Bahamas Olympic Committee and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations, both bodies have reached a understanding to carry both Shania Adderley and Lacarthea Cooper to the Paris Olympics. “It is the continued pursuit of all stakeholders to advance the sport of track and field as we continue to raise the flag of The Bahamas high. Best wishes to Team Bahamas.”

Originally, Archer released the names of the athletes to be recommended to the BOC for ratification and he indicated in an interview that Adderley would not be going to the games, although she ran on the team with Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Steven Gardiner and Alonzo Russell to qualify for the Olympics at the World Relays at the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in May.

Following the BAAA National Championships in June where Cooper finished third in the women’s 400m and Adderley was fifth, the BAAA recommended that Cooper go instead of Adderley based on their head-to-head competition.

In officially naming the team at the beginning of July, the BOC selected Adderley and left Cooper off the list. That drew a lot of controversy as people felt that the BOC should have stuck with the BAAA recommendation. But the BOC has the jurisdiction over the team selection and they ultimately decide who makes up the team. The BOC eventually added Cooper to the team.

So it seems all is well that ends well. 

When contacted, Knowles said the BOC’s focus is on Paris.

Archer, however, simply stated: “The BAAA and the BOC say let the Olympics begin.”

Enough said.