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Determined to have a respectable showing at home next year, the World Relays Bahamas 2024 Local Organizing Committee (LOC), in conjunction with the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), have begun the process of identifying relay coordinators and coaches early, to put together the absolute best talent that is available to The Bahamas.
After a seven-year absence, the world relays returns to The Bahamas, set for May 4-5, 2024, at Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau. The Bahamas hosted the first three editions, in 2014, 2015 and again in 2017, before the event shifted to Yokohama, Japan, in 2019, and Chorzów, Poland, in 2021.https://1ac8110c3401947466e72e41ba52b4a8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
Noted sprints and hurdles coach David Charlton has been selected as the relay director for Team Bahamas for the 2024 world relays. The Bahamas will compete in a number of events, with primary focus on the men and women’s 4×100 meters (m) relays, the men and women’s 4x400m relays and the mixed 4x400m relay.Up Next – Disciplinary Committee: 10.21.23 CIN-ATL Almada Failure to leave field 51minUp Next – Disciplinary Committee: 10.21.23 CIN-ATL Almada Failure to leave field 51minclosehttps://imasdk.googleapis.com/js/core/bridge3.597.0_en.html#goog_1518372344Ad 1 of 1 (0:11)NextStay
Shaun Miller is the lead coach for the mixed 4x400m relay, Tyrone Burrows will guide the men’s 4x100m relay, Pauline Davis-Thompson, a member of The Bahamas’ ‘Golden Girls’ from the late nineties and early 2000s, will lead the charge for the women’s 4x100m relay, and Ramon Miller, a member of The Bahamas’ ‘Golden Knights’ from 2012 Olympics, will be the point man for the men’s 4x400m relay. Rolando ‘Lonnie’ Greene, the Bahamian head coach of athletics at the University of Kentucky, will coordinate the Bahamian collegiate athletes.
Demarius Cash will be in charge of logistics and he will be assisted by Bernard Newbold.
“We believe that we have a very strong team of coaches which will lead to a very strong team of athletes,” said Coach Charlton at the press conference to announce the names of the coordinators and coaches yesterday. “We are tasked with the tremendous responsibility of putting together the very best team that we can with the resources that are available to us. An awesome responsibility has been placed on some of the top coaches here, putting together relay teams so that we can best represent this country at the 2024 world relays. The good thing is that our job is not that difficult seeing that we have such a great talent pool of athletes to draw from. The coaches who have been selected are well-versed in track and field. We’re looking to put together the best of the best with who are available and we’re sure that The Bahamas will have a tremendous showing at the 2024 world relays.”https://1ac8110c3401947466e72e41ba52b4a8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
Charlton said that they have already received verbal commitments from some of the top athletes in the country, including Olympic gold medalists Steven Gardiner and Shaunae Miller-Uibo, and will begin the process of obtaining signed contracts in the next few weeks.
“We want to get it writing and that will be done in short order. Letters will be sent out before the end of this week,” he said. “What we intend to do is work with the top eight athletes in each discipline based on their performances from last year and then narrow that down to six as we get closer to the world relays. All Bahamian athletes are available to be considered, but you must be in the top eight at the end of the day.
“We have already contacted some of the athletes to find out their availability and we are confident that we will have a great showing. It is a monumental task, but we have qualified coaches and very talented athletes to draw from. I’m excited, and on behalf of the coaches, we are all very excited.”
Charlton said the involvement of Greene is very important to liaison between the LOC and the various universities and colleges to ensure the availability of Bahamian collegiate athletes.
“We have always been challenged with having our university athletes available to us, so Coach Greene will assist us in that regard to ensure that as much collegiate athletes as possible are available for the relay teams,” said Charlton.
As far as their expectations are concerned, Charlton said that the intention is to go after at least one medal at the world relays and qualifying spots for the Olympics. The top 14 teams in the men and women’s 4x100m events, the men and women’s 4x400m races and the mixed 4x400m relay, from the world relays will qualify for the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France.https://1ac8110c3401947466e72e41ba52b4a8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
“We have to go after the big one. That’s our job as coordinators – to ensure that The Bahamas walks away with a minimum of one medal at the world relays and a minimum of one medal at the Olympics,” said Charlton. “Our intention is to bring the athletes together, particularly the 4x100m teams, to have them gel together ahead of the actual world relays. Synergy is very important. You will always see countries like China and Japan with not the greatest sprinters in the finals of the world championships and the Olympics simply because they have great synergy and they know how to get the stick around the track. That is very important in relay running and we’re looking to capitalize on that.”
BAAA President Drumeco Archer, also the chief executive officer (CEO) of the World Relays Bahamas 2024 LOC, said that The Bahamas is stronger across the board in all of the relay events and he expects great performances from the host country at the 2024 World Relays.
LOC Chairman Dr. Daniel Johnson was the sports minister for the last world relays in The Bahamas in 2017. He said he is thrilled to be a part of this event, bringing the world back to The Bahamas in 2024.
“We get to bring the world relays home and the value of this for The Bahamas is a major marketing expo for our brand ‘Sports in Paradise’. There are going to be about 1500 athletes, coaches and officials here so you could imagine the economic boost that it will have on the country,” he said.
Dr. Johnson added that The Bahamas’ participation in the world relays is directly tied to the national sports academy concept that he expects to come on stream next year.https://1ac8110c3401947466e72e41ba52b4a8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
Mike Sands, the Bahamian president of the North, Central American and Caribbean Athletics Association (NACAC), one of six area associations under World Athletics, congratulated the BAAA on the initiative to begin the process early of identifying qualified coaches.
“I want to thank the BAAA and its executives for this vision in seeing that the preparation for this event gets started early and the bold initiative of identifying the coaches who are more than capable of bringing it together and ensuring that the synergy of the athletes is there,” said Sands. “All 31 members of NACAC are looking forward to attending this event. NACAC is relay territory and The Bahamas is no exception. I’m proud to be at the helm of NACAC at this very exciting time. I congratulate the BAAA and I also want to commend the ministry (Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture) and the world relays committee for this initiative.”
Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg said the government of The Bahamas fully supports the return of the world relays to these shores, and will take steps to have the popular event hosted here in The Bahamas for years to come.
“Once again, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture is here to show its support for this wonderful event,” said Minister Bowleg. “It is our duty to ensure that Bahamians are able to experience something that they have never experienced before. Whereas we would have hosted three world relays before, we want to ensure that this 2024 edition and the ones beyond get better and better so that we could say that it is truly better in The Bahamas.https://1ac8110c3401947466e72e41ba52b4a8.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html
“It is certainly the intention of this minister, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture, and by extension the government of The Bahamas, to get multiple years with the world relays to bring that mega event here, but we have to take it one step at a time. We had it and then we had it again and again, and now we haven’t had it in a while. Now it’s back home. We want to make sure that we take the necessary steps to ensure that we take it to another level so that World Athletics understands that this is the birth of the world relays and this is where it belongs. It is certainly our intention to put something in place for the world relays to remain here.”
The world relays is expected to feature the men and women’s 4x100m events, the men and women’s 4x200m races, the men and women’s 4x400m events, the men and women’s 4x800m races, the men and women’s 4x1500m events, men and women’s distance medley races, a mixed 4x400m relay and a 2x2x400m mixed relay event.
According to Relay Director for Team Bahamas Charlton, there could be an exhibition shuttle hurdles relay event as well.
The World Relays Bahamas 2024 is less than 200 days away.
