By BRENT STUBBS
Senior Sports Reporter
bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
THE Bahamas will be represented by a male and female swimmer at the postponed 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan, but it’s still not known who will be on the team.
Bahamas Aquatics is expected to make up Team Bahamas along with athletes from track and field and possibly boxing, tennis and judo at the games, scheduled for July 23 to August 8.
The Bahamas Olympic Committee, through Cora Hepburn, the first female to be selected as the Chef de Mission for the games, is in the process of finalising all arrangements for the Team Bahamas.
Bahamas Aquatics’ president Algernon Cargill said if none of the swimmers attain the A qualifying standard in their respective event, they will have until the end of June when Bahamas Aquatics will make their recommendation to FINA, the governing body of the sport.
A male and female swimmer will then be selected based on the point system to determine who will get the opportunity to represent swimming at the games.
“We don’t have any male swimmers with a B qualifying time as yet, but have Joanna Evans in the 400 metre freestyle (4:15.34) and Laura Morley in the 200m breaststroke (2:29.89), who have already done the B times on the women’s side,” Cargill said.
“By the end of June, we need to recommend the male and female swimmers to FINA, if no one has achieved the A qualifying standards.”
The point system has been put in place by the FINA Bureau to accommodate those swimmers who are on the borderline of qualifying for the games, but have fallen short.
Cargill, who doubles as a member of the FINA Bureau, said it works in favour of the Bahamas because they can continue to have representation at the highest level of sports on the global stage.
“Given the pandemic and everything that is going on, we believe that the swimmers are making the best of their opportunities,” Cargill said.
“We’re hoping now that the swimming world is normalising and our swimmers will be able to achieve the A standard to make it outright to compete in the Olympic Games.”
He noted that Evans, a native of Grand Bahama, is close to achieving the A standard (4:07.90 in the 400m free). If she does, it puts more pressure on Morley to also attain the A standard (2:25.52 in the 200m breast) to make the trip.
Izaak Bastian, coming off his silver and bronze performances in the 50m and 100m breaststroke at the 2021 UANA Tokyo Qualifier in Clermont, Florida over the weekend, is the leading candidate for the men. The A qualifying standard for Bastian in the 100m breast is 59.93 and the B standard is 1:01.73.
Jared Fitzgerald, the other male swimmer who is in the running for a spot in Tokyo, competes in the 50 and 100m freestyle. The qualifying standards for the 50m free are 22.01 (A) and 22.67 (B), while the 100m free are 48.57 (A) and 50.03 (B).
Evans, the veteran of the crew having competed in her first Olympics in 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, is currently in Texas training, while Jones is in Indiana.
Bastian is in Florida and Fitzgerald is in Tampa.
The last opportunity for all of the Bahamian swimmers to achieve the A qualifying standard is at the Bahamas Aquatics’ National Championships, scheduled for June 24-27 at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.
“We will have representation. We will have at least one male and one female. That is guaranteed by FINA,” he said. “We just don’t know who the male and female will be until the end of the qualifying period in June.”
At that time, if there are no A qualifiers, Cargill said a decision will be made on exactly who will travel to represent the Bahamas in Tokyo.
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