The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

By now the Bahamas’ nine-member team should have returned home from the World Athletics’ Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, but they had to take a slight detour in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Head coach Bernard Rolle said after the team left Nairobi on Monday, they had to remain in Johannesburg as they waited for the US Embassy to sort out their B1 visas to enter the United States of America.

“The process went very well by the relevant authorities,” Rolle said. “It was restricted a little by the time difference of the countries. But we are all safe. We left Nairobi without any issues. We will soon be on our way home.”

Rolle said the team, which was led by the national junior record breaking performance by Rhema Otabor, was in good spirits during the entire process and they are all satisfied with what has been done to sort out the process.

Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations’ president Drumeco Archer said with the help of Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Iram Lewis and Minister of Foreign Affairs Darren Henfield, they were able to rectify the problem.

He assured the public that there were “no major concerns” and that it was just the procedure that the USA had implemented during the COVID-19 era for entry of persons from around the world.

As for Team Bahamas’ performance, Archer said he was very pleased with the results posted. While Otabor ended up fourth in the women’s javelin, national record holder Keyshawn Strachan was seventh in his speciality.

No other athlete made a final, but male sprinters Wendell Miller and Carlos Brown both recorded their lifetime best performances in both the men’s 100 and 200 metres and female sprinter Camille Rutherford also advanced to the semifinal in both the women’s 100 and 200m.

“Every athlete lived up to his or her fullest potential,” he said. “There were many personal best performances and we had athletes who ventured into events that we really didn’t know that they could compete in. “That, I think, gives us a glimpse of what depth and the potential of Team Bahamas at the junior level.

“So I’m particularly pleased with performances, especially with the late showing of these games. I think it’s very difficult to hold peaks this late in the season, but they got better and better, so I think the future is bright for finer performances.”

As he congratulated the members of Team Bahamas, Archer said with 2022 also a World Junior championship year, he anticipated that they are equally excited about what will happen.

However, a lot depends on what will happen after the Bahamas general elections take place on Thursday, September 16.

Meanwhile, Archer is running as a candidate for the governing Free National Movement in Fort Charlotte.

Questioned about holding onto the sporting body going into a general election, Archer said leadership is a vocation and there’s no beginning or end to it.

“I serve as the president of the BAAA and I serve that with honour,” he said.

“If it is within my power, it is my intention to continue to serve.

“I believe that it is difficult to give a view of what is going to happen. I think that would be best defined after the election.

“But what I can say without fear or contradiction, it is my continued resolve to continue to make the federation as good as it can be and that is through committing to strong leadership, even at times when leadership becomes difficult.”

Archer said he will reserve his comments on the way forward until after the elections take place next month.