By BRENT STUBBS

Chief Sports Editor

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net    

PARIS, France — The curtain came down on the 2024 Olympic Games with the Bahamas’ streak of winning a medal at every four year spectacle since 1992 in Barcelona, Spain, coming to an end.

It wasn’t about winning medals that really counted, but it was the performances of the 20-member team in swimming and athletics that mattered the most.

These games were very competitive with the host team, France, proving why they deserved to be applauded for a splendid job in their performances on and off the playing field.

All things considered, Team Bahamas showed up and, despite its share of controversy, performed as best as they could under the circumstances.

No medals, no per capita victory

Normally at the end of the games, there is a title “winner per capita” that goes to the country with the smallest population when their medals are tallied.

That distinction went to St Lucia, who rode the terrific performance of sprinter Julien Alfred to a gold in the women’s 100 metres and silver in the 200m at the Stade de France.

The island located in the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean, with just over 190,000 people, ended up in a four-way tie for 55th place overall. It’s an honour the Bahamas held for several Olympiads.

So close, but yet so far

The Bahamas’ best chance of a medal came down to the women’s 100m hurdles where Devynne Charlton got sixth place in the final event contested by the 20-member team representing the 242.

It was a duplicate position for Charlton from her debut in the previous games in 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, but this time, she admitted that it was a miscalculated start that kept her off the podium with her time of 12.56 seconds.

Charlton was joined by two other Bahamians, who made their first appearance on the world’s biggest sporting stage.

While there was hope for all three appearances in the final, Charisma Taylor reached the semifinal and was 12th overall and Denisha Cartwright fell short in 20th place in the repechage, a second chance race for the athletes who didn’t qualify to get in.

It was the first time that the Bahamas had three competitors in the same event since the sprinters Chandra Sturrup, Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie and Savatheda Fynes made it all the way to the finals of the women’s 100m in 2000 in Sydney, Australia.

Double dose

Taylor completed a rare track and field double as she became the first Bahamian female to contest the triple jump where she just missed making the final cut of 12 with 15th overall.

She admitted that there’s still more in the tank and will continue to pursue the double in as many global events as she possibly can. 

High hurdling

Antoine Andrews cleared his flight of hurdles in the 110m semifinals in 13.43 for 8th place overall, but he admitted that he felt the pressure running alongside American Grant Holloway, who added the Olympic gold medal to his world title. 

The 21-year-old Andrews had booked his lane into the semis after he came out of the heats with a second place that placed him 14th overall. He admitted that he’s just getting his feet wet. 

National records

As one of two competitors entered in the swimming competition at the Paris La Defense Arena, Lamar Taylor emerged as the winner of his heat of the men’s 100m freestyle in a national record time of 48.84. He was tied for 26th overall.

The second came from Ken Mullings as he became the first Bahamian to compete in the gruelling two-day 10-event competition in the men’s decathlon. 

With a few personal and season best performances, he came through with a total tally of 8,226 points to post a national record feat behind his name as well. 

No show biggest show

One of the biggest disappointments came in the preliminaries of the men’s 400m where defending champion Steven Gardiner did not start.

His management team, ‘On Track Management, Inc.,” led by Chief Executive Officer Claude Bryan said Gardiner had to withdraw from defending his title due to issues around his left ankle and the tendon in that area. 

The biggest disappointment wasn’t that he was injured, but the fact that the management team on the ground in Paris claimed that they were unaware of exactly what had transpired up to the withdrawal.

Mother nature

Everybody anxiously awaited to see how well two-time defending champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo would have performed since becoming a mother last year and changing her coach going into the Olympic year.

Still bothered by an injury that hampered her progress all season long, Miller-Uibo stretched it out for 200m in the heat of the women’s 400m, stopped and walked through the finish line in the remainder of the race.

She came back in the repechage the next day and was able to complete the race in seventh place for 20th overall in 53.50.

Hope to see her back at full strength. 

Father time

Could this be the last time that the public sees 40-year-old Donald Thomas at a major international meet? He certainly doesn’t think so, although he suffered a left hamstring injury that prevented him from clearing the opening height of the men’s high jump of 2.15m.

Thomas doesn’t believe he’s done yet.

Fresh new face

For five Olympiads, former national record holder Lavern Eve was the face of women’s javelin until new national record holder Rhema Otabor emerged as the next Bahamian to watch throw the spear. 

The 21-year-old two-time NCAA national champion posted her best of 57.67m for 26th overall in the preliminary rounds of the women’s javelin, but didn’t get to the final, following her global debut last year at the World Championships and ending with her silver medal at the Pan American Games. She possesses so much talent. 

Sprinting galore

Wanya McCoy and Terrence Jones, who competed against each other in college, created their own path here in the men’s 100m where they were 41st and 49th overall in times of 10.24 and 10.31 respectively.

McCoy, however, got some redemption when he reached the semis of his specialty in the 200m where he was fifth in his heat in 20.61 for 18th overall.

He was second in his heat in the preliminaries in 20.35 for 17th place and Ian Kerr got fifth in his heat in 20.53 for a tie at 23rd. 

Kerr went to the repechage round where he ended up third in his heat in 20.60 for 10th overall.

These three can form the nucleus of the men’s sprinting crop.

Sprint splash

In the fastest race in the pool at the Paris La Defense Arena, Rhanishka Gibbs made her Olympic debut as well with a sixth place in her heat of the women’s 50m freestyle in 26.27 for 31st overall.

Look for her to lead the way for the female swimmers in the future.

Relay formation

From the announcement of the relay pool for the mixed 4 x 400m relay, everybody knew it was going to be a tough task for this team to advance.

No Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who were the pillows of the team qualifying in the first place. 

Kudos to Javonya Valcourt, Quincy Penn and Wendell Miller, who joined Alonzo Russell, the only member of the qualifying team to compete, even though their time of 3:14.58 was only good enough for eighth place in their heat for 13th overall.

While neither Lacarthea Cooper or Shania Adderley competed, despite the controversy about who should or not go, I think they both had some valuable experience just being in the world-class atmosphere.

All of the athletes seemed resolute in turning things around as they look forward to the next big challenge ahead at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, next year.

Hopefully these lessons learnt in qualifying and selecting the team will be worked out to avoid any further confusion so that there’s a cohesive unit going to compete.

It’s time to get our relay teams back on the international stage. 

Bonjour from Paris

The games have come and gone and now the stage switches to Los Angeles, California for the 2028 edition of the Olympics.

The four-year cycle is about to begin and with so many different sports being contested in the games, hopefully the Bahamas will be able to increase its participation, not just in swimming, athletics, boxing and sailing.

There’s judo, golf, water polo, handball, cycling, wrestling, weightlifting and two of our more competitive team sports, basketball and volleyball.

So let’s get cracking and start to assemble these athletes in their quest to get through the qualification process because you know it, four years will be here again.