The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

VETERAN bodybuilders Della Thomas and Aaron Greene said they were both thrilled to have been honoured by the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Powerlifting Federation during the 2015 National Bodybuilding and Powerlifting Championships at the Melia Nassau Beach Resort on Saturday night.

“I’m really speechless and it’s always a privilege to accept something like this,” said Thomas, who holds the distinction of being the first Bahamian female to win a medal at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding Championships. “I gladly accepted this.”

As a multiple national bodybuilding champion during her era back in the 1970s and 1980s, Thomas said she was not surprised because she knew that eventually she would have been honoured by the federation.

“The federation has been trying to keep us as athletes on top and so I am very pleased to see that they have honoured me tonight,” she said.”

“When I went out there on the stage, I was trying to flaunt it a bit. It would have been nice, if I wasn’t trying to do some things in my personal life, that I would have been in shape to do a little guest posing. But that might be in the future too.

“But I was surprised, if anything, to see how this new administration started off with such a bang. I expected after a year or so to see so many competitors on stage. And this is the most crowd that I’ve seen supporting the athletes in a long time. I just hope that it continues to get better.”

With the Bahamas hosting the CAC Championships at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island September 24-27, Thomas said she hopes that the crowd will be back because the Bahamian athletes are going to need all the support they can get to prevail over the visiting bodybuilders.

And Greene, who has won numerous national titles and gone on to be the winner of quite a few CAC titles, thanked God for the many years that he was afforded to compete in the sport.

“As you note, my transition started out where I just did it because I had a lot of time on my hand when I was doing my electrical installation cost. I started to go to the gym just to kill time. But God used bodybuilding to change my life, I truly believe that,” Green said.

“I could have gotten into a lot of things as a young man growing up, but I decided to spend my time in the gym training. So I am just grateful to God for how he used the sport to get me to where I am today. Through bodybuilding, God has been able to bless me financially, spiritually, mentally and physically.”

Walking back on the stage for another time, Greene said he felt honoured.

He opened the show by giving an inspiring message in a prayer and he was even more touched when he was called to receive his plaque.

“It don’t trigger anything in me to see I should go back and compete again,” he said.

“I know there is a time for everything under the sun and I feel as though that era in my life came to a close and now it’s time for me to go forth and try to win some more souls for the kingdom of God out of this same arena that he birthed me out of.”