The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) president Mike Sands said he's disappointed that both the men's 4 x 100 and women's 4 x 400 meter relay teams will not qualify for the 2012 Olympic Games.

While they wait on the final verdict of where the teams will finish in the standings, Sands noted that the BAAA has selected about 18-20 athletes for the Olympics.

However, he noted that the Bahamas Olympic Committee will have to make the final determination on who will actually travel when they ratify and announce the team later this week.

The Olympic Games are scheduled for July 27 to August 12. So far, one swimmer - Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace - has qualified and will join the athletic team that will represent the Bahamas.

The BAAA was hoping to have all four teams make the top 16 cut by the July 2 deadline. But up to that point, only the men's 4 x 4 and the women's 4 x 100 were in as a sure bet to compete in London, England, when the Games get underway in August.

"I'm extremely, extremely disappointed because we didn't have the support of all the athletes to participate," Sands said following the last chance at the Jamaican Nationals over the weekend.

"Jamaica made provisions for us and we took advantage of it. We thought that we would have all of our top people, but circumstances didn't allow them to participate, but I have to commend the young men that went down there and gave it their best. They fell short of the mark."

Jamial Rolle, Trevor Mackey, Warren Fraser and Thompson competed. They ran 39.89 seconds for second behind a MVP team from Jamaica that won in 38.83. The US Virgin Islands was third.

"Every time we ran about five times this year, we ran with a different combination," said Henry Rolle, who headed the relay coordinating team that was given the responsibility to try and get the relay teams qualified.

Sands said while they have a good crop of young female quarter-milers, they just didn't have sufficient opportunities for them to compete.

"It's most unfortunate that we couldn't get them all to the starting line at the same time so that they can maximise their full potential for us to qualify the relay team," Sands said. "I think they could have qualified."

Rolle, however, said no legitimate effort was made to put the team together. He said when they made the effort to get them together, it was a little too late.

"When we tried to get the team together earlier in the year, only Shaunae Miller was running up to par," Rolle said. "We had some other women come around, but by then, we had the problem trying to find meets for them to compete in."

As for the men's 4 x 1, Sands said they had a couple of opportunities, both here at home, in the United States and again in Jamaica, but they didn't crack the top 16.

The men's 4 x 4 team has been sitting in the top two, trailing only the United States and the women's 4 x 1 team were hanging between number 10 and 15.

Rolle said the major problem is that a lot of the top teams had qualified from the IAAF World Championships in Daegu, South Korea, and so they didn't need to help teams like the Bahamas.

"The best strategy for us is to run as well as we can at meets like the Olympics and the World Championships and then those teams that don't compete, try to get them together early in the season so that they can get a chance to compete," Rolle said.

"You have to have three countries on the track and there are not that many countries that will be willing to put on meets that they will provide the teams that haven't qualified to qualify," he said.