The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

HE didn’t make the top five for the International Amateur Athletic Federation’s Male Athlete of the Year, but Steven Gardiner’s victory in the men’s 400 metres at the IAAF World Championships earned him the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture’s Athlete of the Year honours.

The IAAF awards took place on Saturday at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco where Kenya’s marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge and 400m hurdles world record holder Dalilah Muhammad of the USA were named the male and female World Athletes of the Year.

Falling short of getting in the final selection for the IAAF award, Gardiner emerged as the Ministry’s Prime Minister Male Athlete of the Year during the local national awards held in the Crown Ballroom at the Atlantis resort on Paradise Island.

He won a close race over Grand Bahama’s National Basketball Association’s guard Chavano ‘Buddy’ Hield, who is having an exceptional year for the Sacramento Kings.

Shaunae Miller-Uibo, a finalist at last year’s IAAF awards but not included this year, was named the Female Athlete of the Year.

She earned her three-peat national award title for the silver medal performance in the women’s 400m over Women’s NBA forward Jonquel Jones of the Connecticut Sun.

Hield and Miller-Uibo carted off the respective male and female Ministry of Sports’ Excellence Achiever Awards, while Hield was the winner of the Tourism Impact Award and quarter-miler Jeffery Gibson collected the Sportsmanship award over Jones.

Judoka Cynthia Rahming, who is on the verge of being the first Bahamian to qualify for the Olympic Games, was selected as the Most Improved Athlete of the Year.

The Athlete of the Year with Disability went to Deron Forbes and LaTonta Moss of Abaco, who led the Bahamas’ performances at the World Games in Abu Dhabi.

Football player Michael Strachan earned the Collegiate Athlete of the Year award over sprinter Samson Colebrooke and University of the Bahamas’ national decathlon record holder Ken Mullings.Sprinter Tynia Gaither, who returned to the final of the women’s 200m for the second time at the IAAF World Championships where she placed fifth, was selected for the Bahamas Olympic Committee award.

Grand Bahamian high school sprinter Terrance Jones, who rose from winning a gold medal at the Carifta Games to being invited to compete in the men’s 200m at the World Championships as well, was awarded with Future Rising Star award.

The Leevan ‘Superman’ Sands Courage Award was presented to tennis player Baker Newman, who played with a heavy heart at the Pan American Games as a member of the men’s team that included Justin Robert as his mother was home recuperating from medical treatment.

Swimmer Izaak Bastian and tennis player Sydney Clarke earned the Junior Male and Female Athletes of the Year awards, beating out tennis player Donte Armbrister, swimmer Marvin Johnson, sailor Joshua Weech and golfers Sophie Annand and Jenna Bayles.

Former semi-pro player turned veteran baseball coach Fred ‘Papa’ Smith beat out fellow baseball coach Mario Ford, Carlos Reid and his Peace on the Street Tournament, Street Legends Organization and the Bahamas Inter-School Equestrian League for the Community Sports Award.

Winning the Junior Secondary School of the Year honors was the CH Reeves Raptors, who claimed the title over the TA Thompson Scorpions and the Charles W. Saunders Cougars.

The Senior Secondary School of the Year award was clinched this year by the St Augustine’s College Big Red Machine over the CR Walker Knights and the Queen’s College Comets.

This year’s most outstanding federation was the Bahamas Basketball Federation. They earned the Federation of the Year award over the Bahamas Cycling Federation and the Bahamas Equestrian Federation. Not included in the top nomination this year were the Bahamas Amateur Athletic Federation and the Bahamas Swimming Federation.

However, the BBF’s Boys under-17 national team claimed the National Team of the Year honors for winning the bronze medal at the FIBA Centro Basket Tournament in Puerto Rico and earning a berth in the Under-18 tournament in 2020. Their victory came over the Bahamas Water Polo team from the BSF.

And Grand Bahamian Quinton ‘Three Ounce’ Hall, who coached the boys national basketball team to victory, was selected as the Coach of the Year over Sidney McKenzie of Special Olympics, Denyko Bowles of the Doris Johnson Mystic Marlins’ senior boys basketball team, Raymond Tucker of the Bahamas CAC bodybuilding team, Georgette Rolle from golf and Barron’ Turbo’ Musgrove from cycling.

The Volunteer of the Year award was presented to Thora Sweeting over Shakera Johnson and Eugene Horton.

The Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Lanisha Rolle and Speaker of the House of Assembly, Halson Moultrie, were among the list of dignitaries on hand to present the awards. While the majority of the winners were not present, federation executives and or family members were present to collect on their behalf.

The event highlighted the ministry’s month of activities that included the induction of the 2019 Hall of Fame Class and was held under the theme: “Champions Among Us: Locally Grown, Globally Known.”

The athletes were nominated by their various associations and federations to the ministry, who assembled a panel to determine the final list of winners.