The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

With a strong showing in her first transfer collegiate season and a breakout year on the senior international scene, javelin thrower Rhema Otabor has emerged as The Tribune’s Female Athlete of the Year (2023).

She earned the honours over a field of track and field athletes, including hurdler Devynne Charlton and sprinter Anthonique Strachan and basketball star Jonquel Jones.

The 21-year-old, who is now in her senior year at the University of Nebraska after transferring from Florida International University for her junior year this season, took the spotlight, winning three major medals and being named to the Nebraska Scholar-Athlete Honour Roll in the Fall 2022 and Spring 2023.

After winning the Michael Johnson Invitational and placing second at the Jim Click Shootout (185-10 (56.64m), Otabor won the Big Ten women’s javelin title with a heave of 189-90 (57.85m).

She qualified for the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Division One Championships in June at the Mike A. Myers Stadium in Austin, Texas where she hoisted the championship trophy in the javelin with her winning toss of 195-2 (59.49), becoming just the second Bahamian to accomplish that feat, following in the footsteps of national record holder Lavern Eve, who did it for Louisiana State University in 1987.

Otabor came home in June and won the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associationas’ National Junior and Senior Championships crown at the Thomas A Robinson Stadium with her performance of 196 (59.75m). She earned the rights to represent the Bahamas at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association’s under-18 and under-23 championships where she won the javelin title with a toss of 188-7 (57.48m). That propelled her to the World Athletics’ 19th World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August where she made her debut by falling short of advancing to the final with 15th place in her group in the qualifying round with 175-11 (53.62m).

However, the flame continued as she went on to capture the silver medal at the Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile in November, capping off the year with her personal best of 198-7 (60.54m). Only Eve has thrown further as a Bahamian with her national record of 209-1 (63.73m) she established in 2000 in Nashville, Tennessee.

Despite the performances of Otabor and Charlton and Strachan, Jones clinched the second spot on the Tribune’s Female Athlete of the Year list.

The 29-year-old Grand Bahamian native, who played in her first season with the New York Liberty, earned her second Most Valuable Player honours in the Women’s National Basketball Association.

This time, the 6-foot, 6-inch centre captured the 2023 Commissioner’s Cup with 16 points and a game high 15 rebounds as the Liberty knocked off the Las Vegas Aces 82-63 in August. For her efforts, she collected an extra $5,000 to go along with the $30,000 bonus each her teammates got for winning the first title for New York.

Although it was an in-season incentive that didn’t count towards their regular season statistics, Jones and the Liberty did make it to the WNBA Final where it counted the most. The Aces got revenge as they captured back-to-back titles with a 3-1 best-of-five series win over the Liberty.

Prior to falling short in the final, Jones helped the Liberty to eliminate her former team, the Connecticut Sun 3-1 in their semifinal playoffs. Jones played with the Sun from when she joined the WNBA in 2016 to 2022, including the WNBA MVP in 2021, but she’s yet to secure a league team title.

For the third spot in the Tribune’s Female Athlete of the Year honours, Charlton came through with some fantastic feats that was just shy of getting her on the podium.

The 28-year-old national record holder came so close to getting on the medal dais at the World Championships in Budapest, Hungary in August where she placed fourth in the women’s 100m hurdles in a time of 12.52 seconds.

She ended the year at the Weltklasse Zurich Diamond League Meet in Zurich, Switzerland where she was eighth overall in 12.75. She had 13 races under 13 seconds, but season’s best was off her national record of 12.44 she set at the Olympic Games in 2022 in Eugene, Oregon.

Other athletes making their presence felt this year, but falling short of the top three were Anthonique Strachan, who posted personal best times of 10.92 in the 200m and 22.15 in the 200m, while finishing sixth at the World Championships and third at the Diamond League Finals, the return of World and Olympic champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo after having a baby and the appearances of both Waltiea Rolle, the first Bahamian to compete in the WNBA, and European player Lashann Higgs, along with tennis players Sydney Clarke and Larikah Russell.