06062024 NEWS AND SPORT

OBITUARIES

UNIONS ‘NOT ASKED’ OVER PAY DATE MOVE

Govt says salaries will now be paid out every two weeks

By LEANDRA ROLLE Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

UNION heads berated

Prime Minister Philip

“Brave” Davis yesterday for announcing that public servants would start having their salaries paid every two weeks, insisting they were not consulted and that the plan may have been ill-thought-out. Bahamas Public Service Union president Kimsley Ferguson and Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) president Belinda Wilson expressed shock and disappointment at the announcement. During his contribution to the budget debate

DAVIS DEFENDS BUDGETBUT GIVES FEW DETAILS

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Chief Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip

“Brave” Davis defended his administration’s 2024/25 budget yesterday after the opposition said it failed to address critical concerns, namely the future of Bahamas Power and Light (BPL) and Grand Bahama.

Mr Davis did not give detailed updates on either issue in the House of Assembly yesterday, only noting that announcements were forthcoming.

“Even though the details have yet to be announced, members of the opposition are already complaining and stirring up anxiety over

By KEILE CAMPBELL kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Road Traffic Department’s relocation to Summerwinds Plaza on Tonique Williams Darling Highway attracted mixed reviews from people who

EARYEL BOWLEG

Staff Reporter

received services at the facility yesterday and spoke to The Tribune about their experience.

Most said the service was quick and smooth, while others complained that lines were long and chaotic and that figuring out where

to go was confusing.

“The previous location was terrible,” said Gemma Rigby, adding that the new location is more enjoyable, not least because seating is available while waiting in

leader Michael Pintard

Davis announces death of former Supreme Court Justice Thomas Evans

By LYNAIRE MUNNINGS Tribune Staff Reporter lmunnings@tribunemedia.net

PRIME Minister Philip

“Brave” Davis announced that former Supreme Court Justice Thomas Evans, KC, died yesterday

morning. Before beginning his contribution to the 2024/2025 budget debate yesterday, Mr Davis spoke highly of his “good friend” and described him as a “gentleman” with whom he practised and studied law.

In calling Mr Evans a “gentle giant”, Mr Davis recalled the pair’s memories. Mr Evans’ son was Mr Davis’ godson.

“Always remember that death is not the end, as I keep saying and reminding myself, it’s not the

end,” Mr Davis said. “It’s not a full stop, rather it’s only a mere comma in the sentence of our lives, something I’m always reminded of by my good friend Leslie Miller. It’s only a comma in the sentence of all our lives and as

believers, we commend his soul to the Almighty.”

Mr Evans served in several capacities. He started his career as Crown counsel from 1976 to 1979. He served as acting magistrate from September 1981 to December 1981 and

from January 1983 to September 1983.

He established Evans & Co law firm in 1987, serving as senior partner for 39 years. He leaves behind his wife, Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans, and children.

FORMER SUPREME COURT JUSTICE THOMAS EVANS, KC

Unions ‘not asked’ over pay date move

in the House of Assembly, Mr Davis announced several reforms for the public sector, which he said would “revolutionise” the administration of payments for government employees.

He said these include introducing electronic salary notifications, online job applications and biweekly salary payments via Cloud Bahamas, a project launched by the government in May to digitise the public service.

“Bi-weekly salary payments mean that our employees will now be able to be paid every two weeks,” he said.

“This will allow for more frequent paydays, which will almost certainly support employees to improve their cash flow. This, in turn, will hopefully shield employees from highinterest consumer loans in order to fund everyday expenses.”

Nonetheless, Mr Ferguson called the announcement “haphazard” while Ms Wilson said she was “taken aback” by it.

“This has not been a well thought out process as to how this is going to adversely affect public servants by making this decision, and, hence, the Bahamas Public Services Union and unions at large are not going to sit by and allow the government to do these things,” Mr Ferguson said, adding that no studies had been done to determine how people in the country or region would be affected.

Ms Wilson said: “How will it work with the persons on medical leave? Has the banking leave days been adjusted? What about deductions for loans and mortgage payments?

Do you know that the new Oracle system has already had many glitches as teachers try to enroll? They were able to see other individuals’ personal information?

Mr Prime Minister, you’re now touching the workers’ money. This idea of bi-weekly salary payments must be reviewed and revised, and I’m urging you, sir, to meet with the unions.”

Mr Davis said the change in payments would help small businesses “which rely on the uptick in economic and financial activity fuelled by government workers.”

Mr Ferguson, however, said while he wants businesses to thrive, it “cannot be done by sacrificing public servants.”

“It’s disappointing. It’s disrespectful,” he said. “This particular administration apparently has been having a disregard for things agreed to in the various industrial agreements between unions and the government and they’re doing what they feel like without consultation.”

Mr Davis said the government’s Cloud Bahamas project would also address other issues facing government employees, such as long-term pay discrepancies and employee accountability.

However, Mr Ferguson said he knows little about the project or how it works.

“Somebody called me and indicated that employees now have to input information into a system,” he said. “I heard that there are employees who have been trying to get online to do these things forever and not only that, this adds insult to injury.

“These people have placed a deadline on the fact that if persons don’t get in, they won’t be paid. They are looking for a national riot in this country.”

Last week, Mr Davis announced that public sector salaries would be reviewed because they are too low.

The administration has budgeted $10m for this review.

Mr Davis said this money would be used to compensate hard-working employees, not for a private company to perform the review.

“If we do not offer salaries at competitive rates, people will not want to work in the public service,” he said.

“If we do not offer salaries at competitive rates, people will not stay in the public service. Salaries must keep pace with inflation and be at a level which is competitive and fair.”

In a statement over the weekend, the Organisation for Responsible Governance (ORG) questioned how the salary review would be used to “support the increased effectiveness and efficiency of government services.”

Quick service but chaotic lines at new Road Traffic Dept location

the queue.

One 40-year-old mother complained that the location lacked adequate parking, adding that people

parked on the highway. “Number one, for something this big, it should be put out to tender, and number two, there should’ve been some guideline, some document that

says here’s how we go about choosing these particular places, and that’s clearly not done,” she said. The department’s location at the national stadium became untenable after

staff complained about their working conditions. The department’s headquarters was moved there before the Clarence A Bain Building was demolished in 2020. Staff complained

about rodents, brokendown ceilings, and other infrastructure issues.

Former Progressive Liberal Party (PLP) Cabinet minister Leslie Miller owns the Summerwinds Plaza. He told The Tribune last year that the plaza has parking space for 300 vehicles, adding: “No other place they could go has the parking.”

Yesterday, construction was ongoing at a section near the front of the property. Certain parts of the facility appeared temporarily constructed as officials continue to upgrade the site.

Bahamas Taxi Cab Union (BTCU) president Wesley

Ferguson was at the facility and said the department needed a location change.

However, he said: “Road Traffic was in dire straits because every time a government –– any government, not just PLP or FNM –– any time they rent a building, it’s always a controversy. So now, the new government is in and pretty much do the same thing; you know, look out for their party supporters and in the interest of the public. Instead of the government trying to build a whole building that’ll take years, if something is available and they can help out each other, I don’t see a problem with it.”

from page one

PEOPLE wait in line outside the new Road Traffic Department location on Tonique Williams-Darling Hwy yesterday.

Photo: Chappell Whyms Jr

Govt to buy Princess Towers for under $4m

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis announced yesterday that these will be purchased for less than $4m.

He clarified his administration’s plans after saying last week that the government would acquire the Bazaar and reopen the highway for $30m.

During his contribution to the budget debate yesterday, he said loan facility has been arranged with the Afro-Exim Bank for an exciting new development on the site, details of which would be provided shortly.

Minister for Grand Bahama Ginger Moxey expanded on his comments, saying her ministry plans to create an Afro-Caribbean Marketplace at the International Bazaar site.

She said the Bazaar property will be transformed into a world-class tourist attraction featuring 74 countries and 16 islands of The Bahamas.

“It is a plan that includes people and kills two birds with one stone; it fixes the mess that the GBPA nor the side opposition have been able to resolve and brings to life an exciting new project to be funded by in-depth analysis through Afro Export-Import Bank,” she said.

Ms Moxey said the Davis administration has done what the city’s administrators have not been able to do to resolve what she described as “longstanding legacy issues” in Freeport that have contributed to Grand Bahama’s economic stagnation.

The portion of West Sunrise Highway that ran through Royal Oasis Resort and the Bazaar, once a popular venue for cultural festivals and international events, was purchased from the GBPA and turned into a man-made beach.

Ms Moxey said the people of Grand Bahama have advocated for reopening the road.

“In 2017, the previous PLP administration made some progress. So, immediately upon coming to the office, we reignited the process, and here we are today,” she said.

“The most powerful part of this development is that the government is not fixing a vexing problem; it is creating a revenue generator for the government and the people of the Bahamas. So, I am pleased to reiterate the announcement made by the prime minister that the West Sunrise Highway, the road between International Bazaar and old Royal Oasis

Resort, will be reopened.”

Ms Moxey said the government also agreed to acquire the property on which the International Bazaar and the Royal Oasis Tower and Casino are situated for future development, revitalizing the area, and stimulating economic

activity.

She said the transaction involves 14 property owners and added that the structures will be demolished and beautified.

Meanwhile, Kwasi Thompson, the MP for East Grand Bahama, questioned why the prime minister

said the government would spend $4m to acquire the Bazaar, Princess Hotel and reopen the West Sunrise Highway when only $1 million was allocated in the capital budget to acquire the Royal Oasis and only $1m to demolish the Royal Oasis property.

“We all agree that the status quo must change, but to what?” he asked. “We need to understand what’s your vision plan for Grand Bahama. You can’t keep this a secret; the people of Grand Bahama ought to know what your plan is for Grand Bahama.”

Govt signs contracts for several roadworks projects including Gladstone Road

By KEILE CAMPBELL kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

THE Davis administration has budgeted $5m in the upcoming fiscal year for the delayed Gladstone Road Improvement Project, which is expected to cost about $35m to complete.

Works and Family Island Affairs Minister Clay Sweeting said yesterday that Bahamas Power and Light would begin moving and realigning electricity poles on Gladstone Road this week to facilitate the project.

Mr Sweeting could not give a timeline for when substantial road work would begin. The Ministry of Works had estimated that it would begin by the end of 2022.

The road improvement project is expected to span the entire length of Gladstone Road, widening the road from a single-lane road to a dual-carriageway for increased vehicle capacity. New roundabouts will be added to improve traffic flow and safety. The project’s cost has grown from the initial projection of $29m.

Mr Sweeting spoke during a Ministry of Works press conference where local contractors signed contracts to pave various roads in New Providence.

He said officials had completed drainage work in some areas on the Eastern Road and paved some roads. He said drivers should already see “marked improvement” in flooding.

“Once we complete the other two culverts, I think that you’ll see something that we haven’t seen in decades where you’ll see a lot

more efficient and quick drainage facilities down there,” he said.

Officials signed contracts totalling over $2m for road pavement works yesterday. Bahamas Industries and Construction, Apex Pavers, Offspring Landscaping, Envy Heavy Equipment and Waste Management, KW Paving, Liberty Paving and Striping, and Abaco Aggregate and Cement were some Bahamian companies that received a package and will work in conjunction with the Ministry of Works and BahaMix.

Mr Sweeting said when his ministry tendered seven contracts, it was “the first time in a long time” that the government sought to use local companies to improve roads in New Providence.

“I know that this has been something that’s been for discussion for a few years in regards to how bad the road

network is in New Providence,” he said. “The team at the Ministry of Works has done an impeccable job to ensure that they’ve mapped out the roads to see which roads need to be done first, and we’ll continue that through the next two and a half years.”

Sandlee Brutus, president of Bahamas Industries and Construction, was grateful for the opportunity, stating: “This would’ve not been our first project that I’ve worked on along with the ministry, but this would’ve been the first major road works in my undertaking. We are absolutely prepared.

“The folks at the Ministry of Works would’ve done their due diligence by interviewing the companies, ensuring that each company had the capacity, equipment and experience in carrying out these road works.”

“This means a lot, as being young, you always welcome the opportunity to undertake civil and infrastructure projects to now solidify your name and brand.”

Kino Simmons, president of Abaco Aggregate

and Cement, was encouraged by the young faces he saw at the contract signing event.

“Fortunately for my company, we have the specified equipment in place: the asphalt pavers, the rollers,

the tile trucks, all the small tools, we have that already in our inventory,” he said. “Like the minister said, the government will supply the materials, so we look for this to be a smooth process.”

A VINTAGE photo of the Princess Towers in Grand Bahama

WORKS & FAMILY ISLAND AFFAIRS MINISTER CLAY SWEETING

The Tribune Limited

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LEON E. H. DUPUCH, Publisher/Editor 1903-1914

SIR ETIENNE DUPUCH, Kt., O.B.E., K.M., K.C.S.G., (Hon.) LL.D., D.Litt .

Publisher/Editor 1919-1972

Contributing Editor 1972-1991

RT HON EILEEN DUPUCH CARRON, C.M.G., M.S., B.A., LL.B.

Publisher/Editor 1972-

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Is this consideration for workers?

TOMORROW is Labour Day – an annual celebration of workers.

Businesses will close their doors for the day – some of them, anyway – and the streets will be filled with marchers flying their banners and proclaiming their causes.

It is traditionally a big day for the PLP, who will be out in force as usual, we are quite sure.

Given the spotlight on workers, then, it is entirely the wrong time for workers to feel they have been ignored by the Davis administration.

Yesterday, it was announced that public servants would now start getting their pay every two weeks, instead of every month.

A project by the name of Cloud Bahamas, launched in May, will handle the payments.

Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis said: “This will allow for more frequent paydays, which will almost certainly support employees to improve their cash flow. This, in turn, will hopefully shield employees from high-interest consumer loans in order to fund everyday expenses.”

Being paid every two weeks rather than every month may well be of benefit to a number of employees – but what’s the problem?

Well, in typical form for this administration, there was a lack of consultation on it.

Both the Bahamas Public Service Union and the Bahamas Union of Teachers were yesterday caught on the hop by the news. Presidents Kimsley Ferguson and Belinda Wilson of the respective unions told of their shock.

Mr Ferguson said that “unions at large are not going to sit by and allow the government to do these things,” and said that it was not “a well thought out process as to how this is going to adversely affect public servants”.

Ms Wilson asked: “How will it work with the persons on medical leave? Has the banking leave days been adjusted? What about deductions for loans and mortgage payments?”

As it stands, people will have their mortgage payments likely coming from their account at the time or shortly after they are paid. The switch may mean they do not have enough funds to cover a payment until they can adjust – and even then, many people like to make sure it comes out right away so there

is no risk of spending part of what you need to. Now they may have to budget accordingly for another two weeks or perhaps shift it into a separate account – which may come at a cost in bank fees.

More than that, it is another example – as we wrote this week about the shift in practice for car insurance and licences – where people seem to be having to change what they do for the benefit of the bureaucrats.

If there really was a benefit to the employees for this, why wouldn’t the government have trumpeted it long in advance? Hey, look at what we’ve got coming for you – this will be great! The silence is hardly encouraging.

Even Mr Davis talks of how this will “almost certainly” support employees. Almost certainly. So there is room for doubt. Perhaps you should have asked people then. Or at least warned them. There is no mention of a cost factor for this changeover. Is this saving the government money or costing more? And how will that, be it positive or negative, affect the taxpayer? Are we going to have to pay more or less?

And lastly, it smacks of the nanny state. It is not the government’s job to get involved in how workers manage their cash flow. That’s their own personal business. If the government showed as much enthusiasm for educating people about finances, particularly at school age to prepare people for the future, we could absolutely cheer that on. But changing how often you pay someone to supposedly help them manage their cash flow even if they haven’t asked for that, well, that’s the nanny state in action. An opt-in would have been a better solution rather than a blanket imposition – but even so, the lack of consultation sticks out like a sore thumb.

If this is about the workers, why not ask them?

As we arrive at Labour Day, it is a time to appreciate the workers who put so much time and effort into their endeavours, sometimes with little appreciation.

Some can work long hours for not enough pay. Some can deal with difficult workplace environments. Some risk life and limb as a public servant. So if the government truly appreciates them, talk to them. Ask. Give the help that is asked for, and not the help you want to push onto them.

Bail being granted too easily by court

EDITOR, The Tribune.

BAHAMIAN judges and their political mouthpieces will have us believe that the reason our streets are flooded with repeat offenders wearing ankle bracelets and killing people is that our constitution prevents them from depriving unconvicted individuals of basic liberties. But consider this: the conditions upon which these individuals are granted bail invariably involve extreme deprivations of ordinary freedoms.

Curfews, seizure of travel documents, monitoring of an individual’s daily movements and restrictions on private activities (not to mention the mandatory wearing and charging of ankle bracelets) are all departures from the same principle that they claim prevents them from holding people charged with murder on remand. The only notable difference, in fact, is that, unlike imprisonment, none of these latter restrictions prevent them from continuing to kill one another – or your

Time for a full briefing on Haiti involvement

EDITOR, The Tribune.

THE ongoing political and humanitarian crisis in Haiti has not necessarily been a focal point of our national attention. There is much to distract us at home. However, the fact remains we have committed ourselves to try and somehow alleviate the suffering and bring stability alongside other regional and international partners. It started with the surprise announcement that The Bahamas would be committing upwards of 150 RBDF personnel to deploy to Haiti as part of a multinational, UN-sanctioned force to end the scourge of violence being inflicted by paramilitary groups and stabilize the country until a functioning government can be formed. But recent news has signaled a change in this planning. It was revealed by Commodore Raymond

King that ‘no more than

5’ RBDF personnel would be sent to Haiti to provide administrative support and would not be involved in security operations. The focus now is stated to be in the form of maintaining a fleet presence along the maritime border, and assisting with training at HMBS Coral Harbour. This is a substantial step back from the 150 strong original commitment. What was the reason for such a dramatic scale-down? What has changed? It was also revealed by former Prime Minister Perry Christie that the RBDF has been providing security for members of the Eminent Persons Group (EPG), which is tasked with assisting the transitional period for a new Haitian

government. This indicates that RBDF personnel are already on the ground in Haiti and involved in security. Are we the sole providers of the security of the EPG? How many RBDF service men and women are currently there? Are they separate or a part of the five administrative personnel?

A rather dramatic change of mission has occurred from what was initially announced to the Bahamian people and the world. And each new piece of information raises more questions about our involvement.

For the sake of the Bahamian men and women we are sending (or have already sent) overseas, the government must and should hold a full briefing before parliament as to what the plan is moving forward.

JAMES ALBURY June 5, 2024

Selling out our country

EDITOR, The Tribune.

ANYONE who did not read Front Porch’s comments on the ‘Spectacularly egregious decision’ to allow Royal Caribbean to use a beautiful beach on Paradise Island for passengers to dump their trash into the ocean should do so. And in this morning’s Tribune we have been given a pictorial of all the vulgar entertainment planned for Eleuthera’s Lighthouse Point which is one of the most beautiful spots in the world. Is there no end to what the government will do in selling out our country?

CHRISTINA SMITH Nassau, May 31, 2024.

Good Morning, Bahamas

EDITOR, The Tribune.

nine-year-old daughter, if she happens to find herself in their line of fire. So the justification of our courts’ abuse of their discretion over bail is not only pure nonsense from any rational standpoint. It is also yet another example of the contempt in which elites in black, postcolonial societies tend to hold the wider public that they are expected to govern and protect.

ANDREW ALLEN Nassau, June 2, 2024.

THERE’S a saying that any publicity is good publicity. In the disturbing case regarding allegations of the rape of two American women on Grand Bahama, the last thing The Bahamas needs is for its reputation to be dragged in the mud by Good Morning America. On the February 8th edition of Good Morning America with hosts Robin Roberts, George Stephanopoulos and Demarco Morgan, the story of the rape allegations were reported.

Good Morning America is ABC’s flagship morning newscast with a weekly viewership of 2.9 million. Just last month Nielsen Media Research stated that Good Morning America had outperformed NBC’s Today morning newscast by 145,000. It is ranked as the number one morning newscast in North America. The reporter covering the story, Eva Pilgrim, made it a point to remind her massive television audience that the US State Department had issued a level two crime advisory for

The Bahamas, due to the inordinately high murder count and sexual violence in New Providence. The alleged victims are both from Kentucky. They’ve already lawyered up. Both women are saying that their dream vacation -- their first kid-free vacation - turned into a nightmare. The FBI is already involved.

This story has the potential of hurting the Bahamian economy. I expect Carnival Cruise to emerge out of this saga unscathed. The Bahamas might not be so fortunate. Tourism is our bread and butter. Without it, this country would be another Haiti. Unfortunately for The Bahamas, this story is also being covered by Chris Cuomo of News Nation. Cuomo interviewed the two women and their attorney on February 7. The segment is also posted on YouTube and has over 39,000 views. What stood out about the interview was Cuomo’s knowledge of the gang violence in Nassau, which is embarrassing to me as a Bahamian. Cuomo did his homework. Based on his

tenor, I doubt he will visit this country. It would be the height of naivety to believe that this story will not harm The Bahamas. Based on the many negative comments by concerned Americans on the Good Morning America YouTube channel, this will most definitely hurt the country. The criminal enterprise in this country does not have a stake in tourism. It is tens of thousands of law-abiding Bahamians who eke out a living in our number one sector. Criminals will not lose sleep over the collapse of tourism. It is deeply troubling that The Bahamas is now being viewed as equally dangerous as Jamaica. I blame our elected officials in the House of Assembly, the Privy Council and the judiciary for this mess. It’s my opinion that they’re the ones who have allowed the crime situation to mushroom into this uncontrollable monster that is now threatening to destroy our livelihood.

KEVIN EVANS Freeport, Grand Bahama, February 8, 2024.

A VOTER fills out a ballot paper during general elections in Nkandla, Kwazulu Natal, South Africa, on Wednesday.

Photo: Emilio Morenatti/AP

Early Act Club started at Mary Star by Rotary Club of Grand Bahama

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

THE Rotary Club of Grand Bahama has initi-

ated the Early Act Club at Mary Star of the Sea Catholic Academy to foster leadership and community service values at the primary school level.

Titi Moss, president of the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, said this is the second Early Act club formed in Grand Bahama.

The first was implemented two years ago at the Wilbur S Outten Academy.

“Our club decided to sponsor the club so that young people are aware of the importance of serving the community and taking care of our environment,” she said.

She explained that Earlyact is the first stage and is for students ages

five through 13 years. It teaches respect, empathy, tolerance, caring, citizenship, compassion, responsibility, leadership, perseverance, friendship, and teamwork.

The next stage is the Interact Club for high schoolers, then the Rotaract Club for high school graduates ages 18 to 34. At age 35, they can become Rotarians.

According to Ms Moss, the school service club was launched in December 2023, and the Interact Club will also be launched next year.

She said some members cleaned the school campus and planted mangrove seedlings this year.

“Our young people are our future leaders, and we must show them at a young age the importance of providing service and taking care of our community,”

Ms Moss said. Following in her mother’s footsteps, Samir Moss is the president of the Early Act Club at MSSCA. She said she looks forward to joining the Interact Club when it is formed at the school next year.

Christine van der Linde, Past president of the Rotary Club of Grand Bahama, commended the 25 members of the first cohort of EarlyActers at Mary Star.

“We realise the need for the youths in primary school to start taking responsibility and learning corporate and community service life,” she said.

“Mary Star was very receptive to it, and seeing how the children were well-educated was encouraging,” she said.

See Clubs and Societies page on page 11

LUPUS 242 ASSOCIATION HOSTS POP-UP FITNESS EVENT AT GOODMAN’S BAY

A PARTICIPANT of the Lupus 242 Pop Up event proudly shows off the complimentary bottle of Heineken 0.0 he received after completing the race.

ON May 31, participants flocked to Goodman’s Bay in purple t-shirts in support of the Lupus 242 Association’s annual Pop-Up fitness event to close out Lupus Awareness Month.

The outdoor event, launched in honor of Crystal Stubbs by her daughter-in-law Natasha Nixon, an avid runner, offered participants to learn more about the autoimmune disease.

Amongst the athletes, Commonwealth Brewery

Ltd (CBL) brand teams for Heineken 0.0 and Vitamalt handed out complimentary samples.

When asked why Heineken 0.0 felt the need to support the event for a consecutive year, Markita Stubbs, Heineken Brand Manager for CBL replied: “Heineken 0.0 is happy to join the Lupus 242 Association in its effort to educate the wider Bahamas on this chronic disease. As a company we strive to brew a better world and we believe

that begins with supporting worthy causes such as this.”

Shonalee Johnson, president of Lupus 242 added: “Heineken’s participation helps tremendously in our effort to raise awareness. The support allows us to facilitate the event on larger scale each year and it is becoming a staple in our calendar of events. We appreciate this level of engagement from corporate partners as we move closer to our mission of making lupus more visible.”

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was sentenced to three months in prison after admitting to stealing a $340 bottle of alcohol at Baha Mar and drinking it at the resort last week.

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter

pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A 33- YEAR-OLD man was sentenced to two and a half years in prison after admitting to having a loaded gun last month.

Magistrate Lennox Coleby charged Walner

By PAVEL BAILEY Tribune Staff Reporter pbailey@tribunemedia.net

A MAN was fined yesterday after admitting to a drug offence.

Estima with possession of an unlicensed gun and possession of ammunition. The defendant was reportedly found with a silver and black coloured Walther PPK .380 pistol and six rounds of ammunition on May 27 in New Providence.

Magistrate Raquel Whyms charged Rasheen Burns, 27, with possession of dangerous drugs. Burns was found with 2.2oz of marijuana on May 30 in New Providence.

Magistrate Kelly sentenced him to three months in prison. He must also fully reimburse the complainant or risk an additional month in custody.

Sergeant Vernon Pyfrom served as the prosecutor.

Magistrate Kendra Kelly charged Leonardo Deveaux, 34, with stealing. Deveaux reportedly stole a 40oz bottle of Hennessy from the Sugar Factory at Baha Mar on May 29. Authorities caught Deveaux drinking the alcohol on the premises just before his arrest. In addition to pleading guilty to the charge, Deveaux further admitted to being intoxicated before committing the offence.

GUN

Estima pleaded guilty to the charges.

Magistrate Coleby sentenced the defendant to 30 months at the Bahamas Department of Correctional Services for the offence.

Inspector Lincoln McKenzie served as prosecutor.

After pleading guilty to the charge, Burns was fined $1,000 and risks three months in prison if he does not pay. He must also attend six months of drug counselling.

STUDENT TARYN RUSSELL, the incoming secretary, talks about her experience and looks forward to serving next year.

Liberal education: Human development and good citizenship

This column was first published in 2018. It is reprinted with some changes.

THERE is a critical and necessary emphasis on STEAM education (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) globally and in the Bahamas.

With breakneck advances in fields such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, artificial intelligence, genetics, communications and information technology and other areas, STEAM education is critical for the development of national economies and the global economy.

But technological education must be complemented by liberal education. In his book, “In Defense of a Liberal Education”, author Fareed Zakaria cites Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook who notes: “Facebook is as much psychology and sociology as it is technology.”

Zuckerberg understands the need to have broadly educated employees and a staff complement with knowledge and education in a broad array of disciplines.

At home and abroad there are many university-trained individuals who are schooled in certain disciplines, indeed, often highly schooled in a particular field.

But many of these professionals are not broadly educated, lacking in a liberal education, which Zakaria defines as how to think, which includes: “how to write”, “how to speak” (rhetoric) and “how to learn” or acquire knowledge on one’s own.

In 1854, John Henry Newman (Cardinal Newman) who famously converted from Anglicanism

to Roman Catholicism, where he eventually was elevated to the College of Cardinals, defined a liberal education as a “broad exposure to the outlines of knowledge.”

A broad exposure to knowledge includes an appreciation of the humanities, including literature, history, philosophy, religion, music, art and other subject areas.

A dear friend, now deceased, was an avuncular Caribbean Jesuit beloved by the students at the college at which he taught. With his wizened face, the octogenarian priest, short in stature, disabled in one arm, was a sort of modern duplicate of Socrates.

The priest friend was an authority on Caribbean literature. He taught the songs of Bob Marley as poetry in his survey class of West Indian literature.

A masterful writer, he joked after the removal of a portion of his colon that he

was now becoming expert in the use of the semicolon. He loved the classics, including the lessons and stories they taught about truth, beauty and goodness.

Toward the end of his life he noted that he was finding greater sustenance and comfort in the classics than the Christian Scriptures, though he loved both. He could not imagine his life without the benefit of the liberal arts.

Through the humanities and a liberal education he found meaning and purpose and the joy of being human, as well as ways of dealing with tragedy, loss and disappointment.

A broad exposure to knowledge as a part of a liberal education also includes a basic understanding of the history and civics of the country in which one lives.

Coincidentally, it is disturbing the number of private and governmentoperated schools that do not mandate basic civics and history at the secondary school level.

There is a certain civic and cultural literacy, which all Bahamian students should possess upon graduation as members of society.

The vast ignorance of our parliamentary system is appalling. When certain university lecturers opine on our system, with scant knowledge of its basic workings, we are failing miserably to inculcate an appreciation for our democratic heritage.

Many simply did not understand the fundamental principles of democracy and cabinet government at stake, and instead based their arguments on personalities.

Despite many more Bahamians with tertiary

education, there is an extraordinary deficit of liberally educated Bahamians not even remotely commensurate with the number of Bahamians who enjoy a university degree.

Often some of the more liberally educated people in a society are the selftaught, many of whom never attended university, but are more widely read and are lifelong learners.

From parliament to the pulpit and from corporate offices to the cubicles of journalists and throughout the professions, there is a woeful lack of broad knowledge of the humanities and the liberal arts; an often pitiful understanding of basic Bahamian civics and history; and often weak to deplorable writing, speaking, and research and learning skills.

Listen to what often passes for political debate in parliament and in the press. The intellectual fallacies often pile up as high as discarded conch shells after a holiday weekend at Fish Fry.

Some of our domestic favourites are false equivalencies, incorrect analogies and the argumentum ad populum or argument to the people, sometimes known as the bandwagon approach, meaning that what is popular must be correct. The latter is a particular favourite of many politicians and radio talk show hosts.

Because of an inability to think in depth, many of us are incapable of sussing out an intellectual fallacy, especially the cavalcade of fallacies masquerading as substantive arguments that often surround debate on matters of public policy.

In a column adapted from his commencement address at Sarah Lawrence College in 2014, Zakaria describes the three types of thinking he believes are indispensable to a liberal education.

He notes the role of writing in thinking by quoting the columnist, Walter Lippmann who, when asked his thoughts on a matter reportedly replied:

“I don’t know what I think on that one. I haven’t written about it yet.” As the adage goes: “To write is to think.”

Many countries, including developed ones, suffer from a poor quality of writing. But it is alarming when such poor writing is found

at the highest levels of the public service, in journalism, at the highest levels of

I now realize that the most valuable thing I picked up in college and graduate school was not a specific set of facts or a piece of knowledge but rather how to acquire knowledge.

business and in the teaching profession.

The daily newspapers often complain of the inability to find capable writers.

Government publications are often replete with grammatical and logical errors.

There is also an overabundance of jargon and overly technical and sterile verbiage, of which George Orwell famously warned in his celebrated essay, Politics and the English Language.

Zakaria also notes the importance of speaking and rhetoric in a liberal education:

“The seminar, which is in many ways at the heart of a liberal education … teaches you to read, analyse, dissect and, above all, to express yourself.

“And this emphasis on being articulate is reinforced in the many extra-curricular activities that surround every liberal arts college theatre, debate, political unions, student government, protest groups. You have to get people’s attention and convince them of your cause.”

So much of our public debate is incoherent and often illogical because even

many of the professionals or commentators who opine on various topics, are often incapable of mustering clear and consistent arguments beyond emotionalism and arguments from tradition, such as, “We have always done it this way!”

Unfortunately, the latter is often the cry of some church leaders who have demonstrated an inability to engage in meaningful dialogue in the public square.

Zakaria observes the role of a liberal education in lifelong learning:

“The final strength of a liberal education is that it teaches you how to learn. I now realize that the most valuable thing I picked up in college and graduate school was not a specific set of facts or a piece of knowledge but rather how to acquire knowledge.”

Zakaria continues:

“I learned how to read an essay closely, find new sources, search for data so as to prove or disprove a hypothesis, and figure out whether an author was trustworthy. I learned how to read a book fast and still get its essence. And most of all, I learned that learning was a pleasure, a great adventure of exploration.”

With the advent of nascent democracy by the Greeks in the 5th century BCE, which placed greater power in the hands of the populace or the demos, various Greek philosophers thought that the citizenry had to be better trained to run the society.

The thinkers saw a direct link between freedom or liberty and democracy. The word liberal refers to liberty, not to ideology as in conservative or liberal. The necessity of a broad education was linked to maintaining freedom and liberty in a society.

Liberal education, both formal and informal, improves an individual’s professional life. Moreover, it is critical to good citizenship and one’s quality of life from the enjoyment of beauty to one’s ethical conduct.

While technology can improve the quality of education, genuine educational reform must include a thorough grounding in a liberal education which may lead to happier, more productive and better citizens.

Democrats warned of reprisals, which sould be taken seriously

“BE careful what you wish for. You might just get it.”

These wise words may be about to assume tremendous political relevance once again in America during the months ahead.

On several occasions in recent American political history, Republicans used them to warn their Democratic opponents. Their somber warnings have led to dramatic consequences.

The conviction last week on 34 white-collar felony charges of GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump by a New York City jury may represent the latest chapter in an ongoing political-legal saga that has seen Democrats opportunistically but shortsightedly reach for a particular result in a specific situation and then watch in horror as Republicans use that precedent to punish them later.

A major example of this political phenomenon occurred in 1988 and involved a Supreme Court nominee named Robert Bork. This is a lengthy story, but it has great relevance to and in many ways helps to provide historical context for the present-day political chaos in Washington.

The events in which Bork played a major role are also in some ways hauntingly familiar today, particularly in as much as they reveal the many similarities in outlook and behaviour of Presidents Richard Nixon and Donald Trump.

After working at two high-profile law firms in the 1960s and early 1970s, Robert Bork served as a professor at Yale Law School, the nation’s most selective and perhaps its most intellectually respected. There, Bork became a prominent advocate of a doctrine that came to be known as originalism. This mandates that judges adhere to the original meaning of the United States Constitution.

Bork became an influential conservative scholar, arguing for example that consumers often benefited from corporate mergers despite the adverse effects on consumer prices and choice of oligopolistic or monopolistic behaviour by corporations.

Originalism, coined in 1980 by former Supreme Court Justice Antonin

STATESIDE

Scalia, is the unifying political-legal concept that continues to inform the thinking of current US Supreme Court justices like Clarence Thomas, Amy Comey Barrett and Samuel Alito, and likely exerts a strong intellectual influence on their colleagues John Roberts, Brett Cavanagh, Neil Gorsuch. Originalism enables its adherents, for example, to interpret the Second Amendment of the US Constitution as applicable to automatic weapons ownership and use when the American founding fathers knew only single-shot pistols and muskets when drafting their Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The theory of originalism also informs what appears to many liberals as a Neanderthal view of women in society and their inherent rights. It encourages its adherents to forcefully resist the idea of reproductive rights as a fundamental human right for women.

As much as anything, this dogged judicial adherence to originalism by presentday conservative jurists – and many Republican politicians -- is what distances them so profoundly from actual current mainstream thinking in American society, where much stricter gun legislation and reproductive rights freedom have been consistently endorsed by big majorities of Americans in public opinion polls.

Bork, who died in 2012, was an influential predecessor to present-day conservatives. But he also played a big role in American political developments fifty years ago. From 1973 to 1977, Bork served as the top government lawyer under Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, successfully arguing several cases before the Supreme Court. But it was his pivotal role during the major constitutional crisis now called Watergate that Bork became a public figure. Watergate is perhaps

the best-ever example of the old political axiom that “it’s not the crime. It’s the cover-up that will kill a politician”.

Nixon, in his zeal to crush admirable but feckless Democratic opponent Senator George McGovern in the 1972 US presidential election, authorised the formation by zealous aides of a group of disreputable characters dubbed the “plumbers” because one of their main goals was to discover and plug leaks of information from his administration that Nixon found either embarrassing or damaging to his political reelection prospects.

Clumsy and inept, the “plumbers” were caught almost immediately when they tried to break into a Democratic campaign office that was located in the posh Watergate apartment building along the Potomac River in downtown Washington. But this story was kept quiet until after the 1972 election in which Nixon absolutely annihilated McGovern and the Democrats. Nixon won every state except true-blue Massachusetts. He even won McGovern’s home state of South Dakota.

Does this seamy Watergate scandal recall for anyone the account of the Stormy Daniels-Donald Trump affair that the National Enquirer publisher similarly kept quiet until after the 2016 election that Trump unexpectedly won?

Back to Bork. In October 1973, Nixon wanted his Attorney General Eliot Richardson to fire a special prosecutor named Archibald Cox for investigating Nixonian improprieties as president. Richardson refused the presidential order and was fired. So too was the deputy AG. Bork was then appointed by Nixon to be acting US Attorney General. As his first act, he dutifully fired Cox.

Does this recall for anyone Trump’s firing of his first Attorney General Jeff Sessions for recusing himself from special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election? Or his sifting through various “acting” Attorneys General in December 2020 and January 2021 after William Barr resigned in disgust, in an effort to find one who would help him invalidate the 2020 presidential election results and illegitimately install Trump for another term in the White House?

Back again to Bork. In 1982, President Reagan appointed Bork to the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. In 1987, Reagan nominated Bork to replace retiring US Supreme Court Justice Lewis Powell.

Bork’s nomination attracted widespread opposition from Democrats but also from numerous other groups. The opposition was partly in response to the arguably lawless action Bork took in obeying Nixon and firing Archibald Cox.

But the opposition was also purely political in nature. Bork’s credentials as a jurist were unimpeachable. His political actions as Nixon’s loyal lieutenant and his retrogressive political/legal views as a jurist led Democrats and liberals to take the then-unprecedented position that this was sufficient basis to reject the nomination.

The Senate had theretofore almost always acceded to the wishes of the sitting president in dealing with major nominations such as those to the US Supreme Court. While some nominees had withdrawn after extended investigations into alleged improprieties, most had been fairly routinely approved.

Reagan stood firm with his nomination nonetheless. But Bork was ultimately rejected in the Senate, 58-42. Republicans at the time warned that there would be payback.

And was there ever payback! Lost in all the furor of then Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s

refusal in Fall 2016 to even bring to the Senate floor Barack Obama’s nomination of Merrick Garland for an associate justice of the Supreme Court was a quiet reminder from McConnell.

The Kentucky Republican well recalled Reagan’s doomed nomination of Bork in 1988, and cited it as a precedent for his own action in sidetracking the Garland nomination. Similarly, McConnell partially justified on the same Bork precedent his complete reversal in logic in 2020 when he rammed through the nomination of Amy Comey Barrett in the Fall of 2020 as Trump lost that election to Biden. Evidently McConnell and the GOP felt the Democratic actions against Bork 32 years earlier justified their continued violations of long-term Senate practice. There’s a lesson here for the Democrats. While they justify the unprecedented pursuit of criminal charges in four different cases against the de facto GOP nominee for president as legitimate prosecutions, the Republicans are warning that there will, again, be payback.

Those warnings have become sharper and more intense in the wake of Trump’s conviction on all 34 felony counts of illegal corporate chicanery by a New York City jury. What might GOP payback look like?

An answer is not hard to speculate about. Were Trump to be elected in November to serve as president for a second term, why would not Republicans promote prosecutions of Democratic politicians as legally justified in the same way that the Dems currently justify the various trials of candidate Trump? Is it hard to see Congressmen like Jim Jordan of Ohio or Matt Gaetz of Florida leading the charge to indict political opponents? Or how about a Trump Justice Department and Attorney General investigating anyone whom Trump might fear or disagree with politically? It’s not at all hard to imagine.

with Charlie Harper

ROBERT H Bork - former US Surpeme Court nominee.

FORMER President Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Trump Tower, on, May 31, 2024, in New York.

Photo: Julia Nikhinson/AP

ETA PSI OMEGA CHAPTER

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, Eta Psi Omega Chapter presented Yellow Elder Primary School with over 200 nutritious Power Packs. This donation is part of the Sorority’s signature programme, Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack (CHIPP). It is set to be Alpha Kappa Alpha’s most ambitious childhood hunger programme to date and reestablishes its ongoing commitment to uplift the community and ensure food security for children in local communities.

The presentation ceremony, held at Yellow Elder Primary School was attended by students, teachers, and representatives from Eta Psi Omega.

“We are thrilled to announce a generous donation of over 200 power packs filled with essential food items for the Yellow Elder Feeding Network.

Through our Empower Our Families programme under the Childhood Hunger Initiative Power Pack initiative (AKA CHIPP), the Chapter continues to embody the spirit of compassion and community support, ensuring that those in need receive both sustenance and hope,” said Phylicia Laramore-Ferguson, president of the Eta Psi Omega Chapter. “Together, we are

Join the club

OUR Clubs and Societies page is a chance for you to share your group’s activities with our readers.

To feature on our Clubs and Societies page, submit your report to clubs@tribunemedia.net, with “Clubs Page” written in the subject line.

For more information about the page, contact Stephen Hunt on 826-2242.

making a meaningful difference in the lives of so many families. Thank you to all who have contributed to this worthy cause.”

KIWANIS CLUB OF NORTH ANDROS

The Kiwanis Club of North Andros saw it fitting to express gratitude to the nursing staff of the Nicholl’s Town Community Clinic as they celebrated Nurses Month. President Lakiesha and her members gave every nursing staff a token of appreciation and thanked them for their dedication to the community.

ROTARY CLUB OF NASSAU SUNRISE

Under the distinguished patronage of Rotary International’s Past President, Barry Rassin, the Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise will once again host its Sunrise Open Golf Tournament on Thursday, August 1, for a 1pm start at the prestigious Ocean Club Golf Course on Paradise Island.

This charity event aims to raise $100,000 with the generous support of golfers and corporate sponsors. These funds will make a significant difference in the lives of those affected by human trafficking and gender violence in The Bahamas.

The Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise was inspired to organise this year’s golf tournament to provide support for victims of human trafficking because our club is committed to helping to mitigate this scourge in The Bahamas. Hundreds of vulnerable people are thrust into this unsavory situation, each through no fault of their own. Once identified, they are often challenged to find accommodations after this dehumanizing experience.

The Rotary Club of Nassau Sunrise is

committed to assisting these individuals in partnership with governmental and non-governmental agencies. We hope the funds raised can go towards building a safe shelter for these victims.

We invite the golf community and corporate sponsors to assist us by registering for the tournament or donating to this worthy cause.

Tournament date: Thursday, August 1.

Tournament Venue: Ocean Club Golf Course, Paradise Island.

Tournament Format: 2

Man Scramble.

Tee Time: 1pm.

Contact Dr Sophia Rolle on (242) 424-3774, tournament director, for more information.

ROTARY LEADERSHIP INSTITUTE

The Rotary Leadership Institute (RLI) saw a significant milestone on June 1, as seven highly experienced facilitators from District 6990 in Florida traveled to Grand Bahama to conduct Level 1 training. This event attracted 41 members.

The day’s agenda was meticulously planned, starting at 8am with breakfast. The participants were then divided into two groups to facilitate focused and interactive sessions. Throughout the day, breaks provided the opportunity for members to network and build camaraderie with facilitators and fellow Rotarians and Rotaractors from other local clubs. The day culminated in a ceremony where participants were awarded certificates, symboliing their commitment and readiness to take on leadership roles within their clubs.

The RLI programme is structured into three levels, followed by a graduate course. The successful completion of Level 1 on Grand

Bahama sets the stage for the future introduction of Levels 2 and 3, as well as the graduate course. This remarkable event would not have been possible without the dedication of several key individuals. Special thanks are extended to District Foundation Chair Lee Phares, Past

District Governors Elihu Phares and Alan Cohn, Rotarian Lauren Cohn, District Governor Barbara Gobbi, President Cristiano Nicolucci, and District Governor Elect Pete Pecci. Their expertise and commitment were instrumental in the day’s success. Additionally, heartfelt

gratitude

meticulous planning and coordination ensured a seamless and impactful event.

goes to the organising committee on Grand Bahama, chaired by Assistant Governor Othyneil Pinder, with Past Presidents Christine van der Linde and Ineka Johnson. Their

FROM left, Ramona Wells (vice president, Eta Psi Omega), Alexandria Williams-Ferguson (senior mistress, Yellow Elder Primary School), Phylicia Laramore-Ferguson (president, Eta Psi Omega) and Tamica Adderley (principal, Yellow Elder Primary School).

THE KIWANIS Club of North Andros at Nicholl’s Town Community Clinic.

Spare a thought for weather

watcher Maureen

Sweeney who made the right call for D-Day

VER-SUR MER Associated Press

ALONG with the generals and the paratroopers, the pilots and the infantrymen, spare a thought for the young Irish woman who may have played the most important role of all in making the D-Day landings a success.

Maureen Sweeney was a postal clerk at Blacksod Point on the northwest coast of Ireland, where one of her duties was to record data that fed into weather forecasts for the British Isles.

In early June 1944, Sweeney sent a series of readings that helped persuade Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe, to delay D-Day and avoid potentially disastrous weather that could have wrecked the landings. She didn’t learn of her role in history for more than 10 years.

“It’s something to remember for a lifetime,” Sweeney told her grandson in an interview filmed before she died last December. “It’s the only time they ever noticed our forecasts. The one that counted. And set the world alight.”

As D-Day loomed, Eisenhower faced a dilemma.

Almost 160,000 troops had gathered on the south coast of England in preparation for the longawaited invasion that was scheduled for the early hours of June 5. The ships that would deliver them to the beaches were already warming up their engines. And 12,000 aircraft were ready to pound the Nazi defences and provide air cover for the landings.

But the success of Operation Overlord depended as much on the elements as military might.

D-Day had been set for June 5 because it offered the right combination of low tides, full moon and, Eisenhower hoped, good weather to give Allied forces the best chance of smashing through the Nazi’s “Atlantic Wall” with a minimum of casualties.

As the appointed hour

approached, however, Allied meteorologists were still arguing about the weather. While US Army Air Force experts forecast that good weather would continue, Britain’s Meteorological Office predicted high winds that could swamp landing craft and thick cloud cover that would hamper air operations.

Relying on readings Sweeney took at Blacksod Point, the Allies’ chief meteorologist, a Scot named James Martin Stagg, finally told Allied commanders that the weather would be unfavourable on June 5.

Eisenhower delayed the landings.

“It was the weather that worried the Supreme Commander most,” author John Ross wrote in his book “The Forecast for D-Day,” published in 2014.

“If he gave the word to ‘go,’ and the weather turned sour, the lives of thousands of men and massive amounts of equipment and supplies would be lost,” Ross added. “Worse yet, the Germans would have learned beyond any doubt where the Allies planned to invade,” eliminating the advantage of surprise. Operating in an era before Doppler radar and high-speed super computers, Allied meteorologists had to rely on hand-drawn maps, historical data, and spotty weather observations to put together their forecasts.

That’s why Blacksod Point, about 500 miles (800 kilometres) from Normandy on the extreme northwestern edge of Ireland, was so important.

While Ireland had been an independent country since 1922 and remained neutral throughout the war, it continued to share weather readings with Britain’s Met Office, which used the data to produce forecasts needed by Irish farmers and fishermen. But after war broke out, British authorities asked for the readings to be taken every hour, instead of every six hours.

Sweeney was on the

midnight to 4 am shift on June 3, her 21st birthday, when she recorded a drop in the barometric pressure. She telegraphed the readings to Dublin, which sent them on to London, then didn’t think much more about it.

But a few hours later, the phone rang and a “squeaky voiced Englishwoman” asked whether the readings were correct. She read off the data and hung up, only to get two more calls seeking confirmation of her readings.

For Stagg, the data from Blacksod confirmed his forecast that a low pressure system would move in from the Atlantic, bringing high winds and thick clouds to the Normandy coast on the night of June 4 and into June 5.

But Sweeney still had another part to play in D-Day.

At 1 pm on June 4, she recorded a slight increase in barometric pressure.

That helped Stagg forecast another change in the weather, and later that day, he told Eisenhower that he expected the winds to die down and the clouds to abate in time for a landing on June 6.

The invasion was a go.

“Well, Stagg, we’re putting it back on again,” Eisenhower told his chief forecaster, according to Stagg’s book, “Forecast for Overlord,” Ross said. “For heaven’s sake, hold the weather to what you’ve told us and don’t bring us any more bad news.”

Sweeney didn’t learn about the part she played in history until 1956, when Ireland’s meteorological service gave her a copy of the data that informed the D-Day weather forecasts, her grandson, Fergus Sweeney, said in an interview with The Associated Press.

She died on Dec. 17 at a nursing home near Blacksod. She was 100.

“I think she would be very proud that she did her job diligently that night because of what followed, and I think she would maybe try and remind us all that if we don’t stop the madness, we could be back at another Normandy,” Fergus Sweeney said.

MAUREEN Sweeney was a postal clerk at Blacksod Point on the northwest coast of Ireland, where one of her duties was to record data that fed into weather forecasts for the British Isles. In early June 1944, Sweeney sent a series of readings that helped persuade Gen Dwight D Eisenhower, the supreme commander of Allied forces in Europe, to delay D-Day and avoid potentially disastrous weather that could have wrecked the landings. She didn’t learn of her role in history for more than 10 years.

Photo: Associated Press

THIS image taken from family video in June 2015, shows Maureen Sweeney, who was a postal clerk at Blacksod Point on the northwest coast of Ireland Photo: Fergus Sweeney/Family Handout/AP

SPORTS

13

THURSDAY, JUNE 6, 2024

‘The Race to Paris’: New Life Invitational set for Father’s Day

By TENAJH SWEETING

Sports Reporter

The North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association (NACAC) New Life Invitational, under the theme ‘The Race to Paris Continues’, will make its third appearance in The Bahamas on Father’s Day (June 16) at the original Thomas A Robinson Stadium.

One of the most prestigious events to take place on the NACAC calendar for 2024 will be hosted in New Providence for the first time and provide athletes within the NACAC region with one of the last few chances to qualify for the

COLLABORATIVE EFFORT: Officials from NACAC, the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) gathered yesterday to launch the 3rd New Life Invitational set for June 16.

2024 Paris Olympic Games, set for July 26 to August 11. Athletes from over 18 countries will have the chance to take home some

extra dollars as the total prize purse for the event is $76,000. For individual events, gold medal winners earn $2,000, silver medallists

earn $1,000, bronze medallists earn $500, fourth place is awarded $300 and fifth place is awarded $200. Mike Sands, president of NACAC, spoke on the

importance of the one-day meet which is also a part of the World Athletics Continental Tour (WACT) Silver Label series.

“We are here today to discuss an event that is very important for our athletes and our NACAC Athletics family as well as The Bahamas. This event is not just an athletic event as it serves as a qualifier for the ‘Road to Paris’

“It presents yet another incredible opportunity for our area athletes in particular to improve their ranking.

“We are urging the Bahamian public to come out and give our visitors and our own Bahamian athletes a ‘Bahamazing’ experience

CH Reeves Raptors close out GSSSA season on a high note

By TENAJH SWEETING

IT is hard to talk about success in school sports and not mention the winning ways of the CH Reeves Raptors during the 202324 Government Secondary Schools Sports Association (GSSSA) season.

The Raptors hoisted their first championship trophy of the season when they bested the other junior schools in three out of four divisions at the GSSSA Cross Country Championships back in November.

The victory would set the tone for the type of season one the country’s top junior schools would have.

Head coach Varel Davis said something was special about this group of athletes at CH Reeves and they have certainly made her proud.

“I always believe that we always have good athletic kids at CH Reeves and you just have to find their talents and what they are good at. I can say this has been a pretty good year for us at CH Reeves. I am happy with the performances of our kids.

“I am proud of them and they worked hard. I think, in my 23 years of teaching, these are the most

dedicated and hard working students that I have seen in a very long time so I am extremely proud of them,” she said.

THE SPORTS CALENDAR

Coach Davis certainly has a lot to be proud of as the Raptors continued collecting titles as soon as the calendar flipped to 2024.

BASKETBALL

PEACE ON DA STREETS

THE annual Peace On Da Streets Basketball Classic, dubbed “Shooting Hoops instead of Guns,” is scheduled for July 15-21 at the Michael ‘Scooter Reid” Basketball Center at the Hope Center. All games will start at 6pm each day. Categories include 12-and-under, 16-and-under, 20-and-under, government ministry, church and open divisions. The event is being promoted by Guardian Radio and Radio House Outreach.

CLERGY VS POLITICIANS

AS a part of the annual Peace ON Da Streets Basketball Classic, organisers will once again stage the showdown between members of the

TEAM BAHAMAS LOCKED IN AHEAD OF WORLD CUP QUALIFIERS

By TENAJH SWEETING

THE men’s national soccer team has spent the last two weeks engaged in rigorous practice sessions over at the Roscow AL Davies Soccer Field, leading up to the selection of a 20-member contingent set to represent the country in the second round of CONCACAF matches for 2026 FIFA World Cup qualification.

The national team will make their commute to Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis today to begin the first of two matches in Group B action scheduled for this Saturday and next Tuesday. The Bahamas will face Trinidad and Tobago on Saturday at the SKNFA Technical Centre in what

16

The Raptors’ junior girls overwhelmed the HO Nash Lions 2-0 in the best-ofthree championship series for the GSSSA junior girls’

June, 2024

Clergy against the Members of Parliament. The game is scheduled for 8pm Sunday, July 21 at the Kendal Isaacs Gymnasium.

BASEBALL

BBA SENIOR NATIONALS

THE Bahamas Baseball Association’s Brice Newball Foundation Senior National Baseball Championships will be held this weekend at the Andre Rodgers Baseball Stadium and the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. Here’s a look at the schedule of games on tap: Thursday night - 5:15 pm 18U FFBL vs EABL (Stadium). 7 pm 23U JBLN vs CBL (Stadium).

GENEVA (AP) — Exactly 100 years since the Olympics were last staged in Paris, and 128 years since its modern revival in Athens, the Summer Games can still deliver fresh looks for its 33rd edition.

Here is a look at the innovations the Paris Olympics will showcase: OPENING CEREMONY This historic first for any Summer Games will launch the Paris Olympics and can be its defining image: Thousands of athletes in a flotilla sailing westward along the River Seine at sunset toward the Eiffel Tower on Friday, July 26. The ambitious idea was to bring the tone-setting

SEE PAGE 19

THE Mako Aquatic Swim Club dominated its fourth annual Oak Tree Medical & Mako Invite Swim Meet held over the weekend at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex. Mao Aquatics, coached by Travano McPhee, cleaned up the two-day meet with a total of 2,041. 50 points, well ahead of runners-up Blue Waves Swim Club with 963. The Barracuda Swim Club came in third with 806. 50. The rest of the teams finished in order with Alpha Aquatics collecting 534 for fourth; Black Marlins Swim Club was fifth with 301.50; Lyford Swim Club sixth with 164; Lightning Aquatics seventh with 135. 50; Mantas Swim & Water Polo Club eighth with 135 and the Sea Waves Aquatic Team ninth with nine. Mako Aquatic also picked up a total of 185 medals, including 74 gold, 65 silver and 46 bronze. The Barracuda Swim Club moved into second with 26 gold, 21

The other teams earning medals in order were Alpha Aquatics with 13 gold, 25 silver and nine bronze or a total of 57; Lightning Aquatics had four gold and four bronze for eight in total; Black Marlins Swim Club had three gold, four silver and 11 bronze for 18; Lyford Swim Club had two gold, three silver and eight bronze for 13 and the Mantas Swim & Water Polo had

Waves Swim Club, 43. 8-and-under boys - It was a clean sweep for Mako Aquatics as Mason Hanna won with 61, followed by Avyn Mckenzie with 44 and Lynden Feaste in third with 35.

basketball title. Tajhaniqua Morley was special for the team during this

COACH Travano McPhee

CLOSING OUT STRONG: The CH Reeves Raptors closed out the 2024 GSSSA sporting season with multiple trophies to add to their collection and are hoping to continue their success next year.

MAKO AQUATIC SWIM CLUB

DOMINATES 4TH ANNUAL MEET

FROM PAGE 13

9-10 girls - Isabella Munroe, Isabella of Mako Aquatics Club captured the title with 63, while there was a two-way tie for second with Kirsten Rolle and Cailyn Dean with 35 apiece.

9-10 boys - Kymani Cooper of Mako Aquatics Club clinched the title with 53, Dylan Musgrove of the Blue Waves Swim Club and Logan Comarcho of Mako Aquatics Club were both tied with 48 for second.

11-12 girls -Alissa Ferguson of the Barracuda Swim Club emerged as the winner with 59. There was a two-way tie for second with 45 with Taylen Nicolls and Nai’a Belton of Mako Aquatics Club.

11-12 boys - Christon Joseph of the Blue Waves Swim Club won with 63. Nitayo Knowles of Alpha Aquatics was second with 52 and Benecio Robinson of Mako Aquatics Club was third with 47.

13-14 girls - DF McKenzie of Mako Aquatics Club was the winner with 51. Saleste Gibson of the Barracuda Swim Club was the runner-up with 45 and Madyson Julien of the Barracuda Swim Club was third with 40 50.

13-14 boys - Dijon Simmons of the Blue Waves Swim Club was the winner with 59. Will Farrington of Mako Aquatics Club was second with 51 and Rafael McBroom of Alpha Aquatics trailed in third by one point with 50.

15-and-over girls - In a closely contested battle between a trio from Mako Aquatic, Zoe Williamson won with 52 to hold off team-mates Giada Bertoldo and Elle Theberge, who got second and third with 51 and 50 respectively.

CH Reeves Raptors close out GSSSA season on a high note

FROM PAGE 13

time. She averaged 36.5 points en route to lifting the MVP trophy. This same team would knock off the Teleos Lady Cherubims 27-15 earlier in the season at the Father Marcian Peters Basketball Tournament to take home the championship hardware once again.

The focus then shifted to the 30th GSSSA Track and Field Championships which CH Reeves also won. They led the competition the entire way and totaled 891 points for their fourth straight title victory.

If that was not enough, the Raptors also picked up the GSSSA trophy for softball. The junior girls upset the pennant winning HO Nash Lions in sweeping fashion. CH Reeves were in charge 2-0 in that championship series. Although coach Davis and Thurman Johnson had to shoulder the load in the Physical Education Department, it paid off in the long run.

“It was really difficult this year trying to multitask with teaching and coaching because we were so shortstaffed. Both of us had to pick up four disciplines this year. We are veterans in this so we were able to multitask all year and by working hand in hand with all our teams we were very successful this year despite being short,” she said.

She noted that without a strong supporting cast many of their goals would have not been accomplished with the odds stacked against them.

“We also won Junkanoo and the under-13 division at a recent flag football tournament. This was our season and I thank God for all the success we had this year. I want to thank my principal, who supported

us straight through, and I want to say thank you to the Honourable Glenys Hanna-Martin for her support. Also, I want to thank the teaching staff at CH Reeves for their support. We could not do it without their support and backing. We are excited for the GSSSA 2024-2025 season. Everybody will be coming back for CH Reeves so we have to continue to work hard,” she said. Outside of the GSSSA season, the Raptors turned in top performances at a number of club meets including at the World Relays pre-game show “Showdown in Paradise”

15-and-over boys - Ellie Gibson led a 1-2 finish for Mako Aquatics Club with 54 and team-mate Tristin

Ferguson followed with 41. Launy Duncombe of Alpha Aquatics was third with 35.

Photos by Chappell Whyms Jr

THE Mako Aquatic Swim Club dominated its fourth annual Oak Tree Medical & Mako Invite Swim Meet held over the weekend at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex.

Alexander Zverev reaches his 4th consecutive semifinal as trial proceeds

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

PARIS (AP) — Alexander Zverev beat Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 last night to reach the French Open semifinals for the fourth year in a row.

Zverev extended his current winning streak to 11 matches, including a title on clay at the Italian Open last month, and his victory over the 11th-seeded de Minaur at Court Philippe Chatrier moves him into a matchup against two-time Roland Garros runner-up Casper Ruud on Friday.

The fourth-seeded Zverev is competing in Paris as a court proceeding

continues in his home country of Germany, connected to accusations of physical abuse by a former girlfriend of his.

Zverev said he never thought it was a possibility he wouldn’t be able to play in the French Open because of the court case.

“No, they made it very clear from the beginning that I don’t have to be there. I think everything is going accordingly. Everything is going OK from my side and from my point of view,” he said. “There’s nothing else to say.”

The other men’s semifinal Friday is No. 2 Jannik Sinner, who won the Australian Open in

January, against No. 3

Carlos Alcaraz, who owns two major trophies. None of the four men left in the bracket has ever won the French Open, and this will be the first title match in Paris since 2004 without at least one of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic or Roger Federer.

The women’s semifinals today are No. 1 Iga Swiatek vs. No. 3 Coco Gauff, followed by No. 12 Jasmine Paolini vs. 17-year-old Mirra Andreeva.

Djokovic was the defending men’s champion but withdrew from the tournament on Tuesday because of an injured right knee, allowing the man he was

supposed to play in the quarterfinals, Ruud, to advance.

Djokovic will be replaced by Sinner at No. 1 in the ATP rankings on Monday. Zverev is trying to win his first Grand Slam title. So is No. 7 Ruud, who lost in the finals at Roland Garros in 2022 (to Nadal) and 2023 (to Djokovic) and at the U.S. Open in 2022 (to Alcaraz).

“I’m happy to be in another semifinal,” said Zverev, who is 0-3 at that stage in Paris. “Hopefully, I can win one.”

He lost to Dominic Thiem in the final of the 2020 U.S. Open and won a gold medal in singles at the

Tokyo Olympics three years ago.

After eliminating 14-time champion Nadal in the first round, Zverev was coming off a pair of five-setters in the third and fourth rounds. This victory was far less complicated, although it could have been far more difficult than it was: de Minaur was one point from tying things at a set apiece while Zverev served down 6-5 in the second.

But Zverev fought that off. In the ensuing tiebreaker, de Minaur pulled out to a 4-0 lead, before Zverev collected seven of the next eight points.

The third set appeared to shift Zverev’s way for

good when de Minaur double-faulted to get broken and fall behind 4-2. When Zverev served for the victory at 5-3, however, de Minaur used a delicate drop volley to break and extend the match. It wouldn’t last much longer, because Zverev broke right back to end it.

All in all, it was not a particularly clean match. They combined for more than twice as many unforced errors (101) as winners (48).

“Had my chances. Probably should have taken that second set,” de Minaur said after the end of his best run at the French Open. “I left my heart out there. Did everything I could.”

Andreeva, 17, advances to French Open semifinals, will face 28-year-old Paolini

By HOWARD FENDRICH AP Tennis Writer

PARIS (AP) — With the insouciance of a 17-year-old having the time of her life in Paris, Mirra Andreeva says she and her coach work out a game plan before a tennis match — and then she forgets all about that, preferring to just wing it.

Seems to be working out fine so far: The unseeded Russian is the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist in more than a quarter-century.

Playing in only her sixth major tournament, Andreeva got past an ill No. 2 seed Aryna Sabalenka 6-7 (5), 6-4, 6-4 at the French Open yesterday.

Next, today, Andreeva goes up against another surprising player: No. 12 Jasmine Paolini, a 28-yearold Italian who reached her first major semifinal by defeating No. 4 Elena Rybakina 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

“I always play the way I want to play. We have a plan with my coach for the match, but after, I forget everything, and when I play a match, I don’t have any thoughts in my head,” said the 38th-ranked Andreeva, who is based in Cannes and coached by 1994 Wimbledon champion Conchita Martinez.

“So maybe I would say that my strength could be that I just play how I want to play and I do whatever I want to do.”

Words many the parent of a teenager probably has heard at home.

The other matchup today will be No. 1 Iga Swiatek against No. 3 Coco Gauff. Swiatek is seeking her fifth Grand Slam title and fourth in Paris; Gauff won the U.S. Open last September and was the runner-up to Swiatek at Roland Garros in 2022. They both won singles quarterfinals on Tuesday.

Gauff, with Katerina Siniakova, and Paolini, with Sara Errani, also are into the semifinals in doubles; Andreeva withdrew from that event before her quarterfinal scheduled for Wednesday. Andreeva’s success at her age is not unprecedented. But it’s been a while.

She is the youngest Grand Slam semifinalist since Martina Hingis at age 16 in 1997. You need to go even farther back to find a younger player who eliminated a woman ranked No. 1 or 2 at Roland Garros: 1990, when Monica Seles — like Hingis, now a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame — was 16 when she beat Steffi Graf in

the final. “I would say that I am almost like a normal teenager, because I still have to do my school that I don’t like to do. I watch a lot of TV series in my spare time.

“I watch Netflix. I sometimes spend too much time on my Instagram,” Andreeva said.

“But maybe what makes me a little different is that, I don’t know if I can say that I’m mature, but I feel myself a mature person, and I feel that I know what I’m doing.”

So even if she and Martinez go over strategy ahead of time, those tactics are not necessarily implemented.

According to Andreeva, she figures things out from shot to shot.

“I decide: ‘Well, what should I do? Should I go down the line or should I do cross? Should I do a drop shot. Should I do a lob?’” said Andreeva, whose sister, 19-year-old Erika, lost to Sabalenka in the first round last week.

“That’s sometimes not really good, because I have a lot of decisions in my mind.”

She has yet to win a tourlevel title of any sort and is competing in only her fifth Slam tournament.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, is a two-time champion at the Australian Open, including in January, and had won the first 23 Grand Slam sets she played in 2024 until dropping two in a row against Andreeva.

Dealing with a stomach illness, Sabalenka was visited multiple times by a trainer and doctor and often clutched at her midsection.

There were plenty of momentum shifts, and the outcome felt in doubt until the very last game, when Andreeva broke with a beautiful lob that Sabalenka didn’t even move to try to get to.

“If we look back,” Andreeva said later, “I wouldn’t expect myself (in the) semifinals.” Had Sabalenka and Rybakina won, this would have been only the second time in the professional era, which began in 1968, that the women seeded 1-4 all advanced to the semifinals in Paris. The other was way back in 1992.

But Paolini and Andreeva prevented that.

With Jannik Sinner into the men’s semifinals, it is the first time an Italian woman and Italian man both have appeared in the final four at the same Grand Slam tournament in the same year. It’s quite a moment for their country in tennis: On Monday, Sinner will

become the first man to be No. 1 in the ATP rankings. The men’s semifinals are Friday, when Sinner will

play Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev will take on Casper Ruud. Zverev reached the final four in

Paris for the fourth consecutive year, beating Alex de Minaur 6-4, 7-6 (5), 6-4 at night. Paolini exited in the

first or second round in each of her first 16 Grand Slam appearances before making it to the fourth round of the Australian Open.

Now she’s made it two steps beyond that.

For Paolini, today is a chance for a rematch against Andreeva, who is more than a decade younger but won their meeting last month at the Madrid Open on clay.

“She’s so young but she’s so, so good mentally. And she can defend very well. She can serve well,” Paolini said. “It’s going to be a tough match, but we are in the semifinals, so there is no chance to get easy matches.”

RUSSIA’s Mirra Andreeva celebrates winning her quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament against Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris yesterday. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)

GERMANY’s Alexander Zverev plays a shot against Australia’s Alex De Minaur during their quarterfinal match of the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium yesterday. (AP Photo/Aurelien Morissard)

ASPIRING YOUNG STARS TAKE THE SPOTLIGHT AT CARIBBEAN HOOPFEST PRE-BASKETBALL SHOWCASE

ON Monday, May 13, 175 young athletes (boys and girls) descended upon Nassau, Bahamas for the highly anticipated Caribbean Hoopfest Pre-Basketball Showcase.

The event, which was hosted by Caribbean Hoopfest and coach Donald Francois, witnessed an unprecedented turnout, showcasing the growing popularity of basketball in

SOFTBALL

the region. Amidst the vibrant atmosphere, players displayed their skills and passion for the game, creating memorable moments that will be cherished for years to come. Stay tuned for

more highlights and coverage of this exciting event. This was the pre-event for Caribbean Hoopfest Youth basketball Showcase being held on August 16-18 in Nassau, Bahamas.

8:45 pm 23U FFBL vs EABL (Stadium). Friday’s schedule - 8:30 am 18U FFBL vs GBLL (Stadium). 9 am 18U EARL vs JBLB (Billou Hills). 10:15 am 23U EABL vs JBLN (Stadium). 10:45 am 18U Legacy vs AYBL (Baillou Hills). Noon 23U CBL vs FFBL (Stadium). 12:30 pm 18U JBLN vs GBLL (Baillou Hills). 1:45 pm 18U FFBL vs LEgacy (Stadium). 2:15 pm 18U EARL vs AYBL (Baillou Hills). 3:30 pm 23U CBL vs EABL (Stadium). 4:45 pm 18U Legacy vs GBLL (Baillou Hills). 5:15 pm 18U FFBL vs JBLN (Stadium). 8 pm 23U FFBL vs JBLN (Stadium). Saturday’s scheduleCollege Showcase - 8am - 1 pm. 1:45 pm -18U FFBL vs AYBL (Baillou Hills). 1:45 pm 18U GBLL vs EABL (Stadium). 3:30 pm 18U JBLN vs Legacy (Baillou

Hills). 3:30 pm 23U Seed #1 vs Seed #4 (Stadium). 5:15 pm 18U AYBL vs GBLL (Stadium). 5:15 pm 18U Legacy vs EABL (Baillou Hills). 7 pm 23U Seed #2 vs Seed #3 (Stadium). 8:45 pm 18U AYBL vs JBLN (Stadium). Sunday’s schedule - 8:30 am 16U Bronze medal game (Stadium). 10:30 am 23U Bronze medal game (Stadium). 12:30 pm 18U Gold medal game (Stadium). 2:30 pm 23U Gold medal game (Stadium).

SWIMMING BLACK MARLINS MEET THE Black Marlins Swim Club will hold its Spring Invitational 2024 on Saturday at the Betty Kelly Kenning Swim Complex. The one-day meet will begin at 9am with the first session. The final session will get underway at 5pm. The meet will serve as the final meet for swimmers to qualify for the Bahamas Aquatics’ Swimming National Championships at the end of the month.

NPSA ACTION

THE New Providence Softball Association will continue its regular season action this week at the Bankers Field at the Baillou Hills Sporting Complex. The following games are scheduled: Thursday 7pm - Sunshine Auto Wildcats vs Cyber Tech Ladies Blue Marlins (L). 8:30 pm Cyber Tech Blue Marlins vs Titans (M). Saturday 7pm - UB Mingoes vs R&B Operators (L). 8:30 pm Cyber Tech Blue Marlins vs Chances Mighty Mitts (M).

SOFTBALL

NPOTSA ACTION

THE New Providence Oldtimers Softball Association will continue its regular season action over the weekend at the Archdeacon William Thompson Softball Park at the Southern Recreation Grounds this weekend. Here’s a look at the games on tap:

Saturday’s gamesNoon Drifters vs Dozer. 2 pm Rebels vs Corner Boys. 4 pm Divers vs KC Construction. Sunday’s games - 1:30 pm Da Boyz vs Vipers. 3:30 pm Corner Boys vs Home Boys.

SOFTBALL

BBSF MEETING

THE newly formed Bahamas Baptist Sports Federation, formerly the Baptist Sports Council, will hold a meeting on Saturday at 5pm at the Bahamas Baptist College, Jean Street, for all churches interested in participating in the 2024 Co-Ed Softball Tournament. All churches interested are urged to have at least two representatives present.

JOHNSON’S

BASKETBALL

CAMP

GET ready for the annual Coach Kevin Johnson’s Basketball Camp 2024. Coach Kevin ‘KJ’ Johnson has announced that his camp will run from June 24 to July 12 at the CI

Gibson Secondary High School and will run daily from 9am to 1pm.

Campers will get a chance to play and learn the fundamentals of the game of basketball from professional instructors. Interested persons can sign up by contacting coach Johnson at 636-9350 or email: coachkjjohnson@ gmail.com

BASKETBALL

NEX-GEN

THE third annual Nex-Gen Elite Training Basketball Camp, hosted by JR Basketball Academy, is all set for June 24 to July 13 from 9am to noon at the Telios Indoor Gymnasium on Carmichael Road. The camp, powered by Frazier’s Roofing, will provide training for game situations, shooting, passibng, ball handling, defense and footwork for boys and girls between the ages of 8-19 years. Registration is now open. Interested persons can contact Cadot at 535-9354, email jrcbasketballacademy.com

FROM PAGE 13

was supposed to be a home game but due to renovations at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, the venue changed. The contingent will then face the host country next week Tuesday at the same facility.

Assistant coach Kevin Davies outlined the coaching staff’s expectations of the national team heading into their first match against Trinidad and Tobago.

“We expect our athletes to perform at a very high level. We have been working now for the past two weeks. We started training earlier in the year and we had our final camp and selection this past week so we are expecting a high quality performance. Our guys are starting to gel and we have a good group of young players and veteran players,” he said.

The Bahamas is competing in Group B along with Costa Rica, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Grenada. The top two teams in the group will advance to the third round of the 2026 FIFA World Cup Qualification.

The national team will certainly face an arduous task as they are the lowest ranked team in Group B according to the latest FIFA men’s world ranking for CONCACAF.

Coach Davies said confidence can be a game changer for Team Bahamas in the tough group.

“It is a tough group. At this level, all games are tough and there are no easy games. You always have to be confident, if you are not confident you have already lost the battle. You have to go in confident and I feel like the group of guys we have are very talented. As long as we can get them to play at a high level, we will be fine,” he said.

The five teams will all play single round robin matches with two games at home and two on the road. Currently, The Bahamas might be at a slight disadvantage as the ongoing repairs at the Thomas A Robinson stadium are expected to continue until January of next year and it leaves them without a true “home court advantage”.

However, with Trinidad and Tobago ranked at no.98 overall and St Kitts and Nevis slotted at no.147, coach Davies suspects that the fans of the host team will be cheering for The Bahamas to defeat Trinidad and Tobago.

“It is what it is. Once you get between the lines you still have to play. I believe the St Kitts fans will be pulling for us against Trinidad because they believe that they can beat us. They would want us to win against Trinidad and, if they win against Trinidad and beat us, then they will be in a good position. I believe they will be pulling for us in the first game but, in the second game, definitely not,” he said.

The group, which features a mix of veteran and young players, will kick off their first match at 5:30pm on Saturday.

Fans can keep up with the action at www.fifa.com

Redemption-minded Celtics set to match up with opportunistic Mavs

By KYLE HIGHTOWER AP Sports Writer

BOSTON (AP) — As the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics prepare to tip off the NBA Finals, the four biggest names in the series are looking at this moment through different lenses.

Boston’s Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown – the Celtics’ most tenured and scrutinised stars on their roster – see it as a chance at redemption after falling just short two seasons ago and then failing to return last year.

“You think that you’re young, if you’ve been once, you’ll continue to keep going,” Tatum said. “We realised that last year. We kind of took it for granted at certain moments.”

And now?

“I’m not thinking about what it would mean for my legacy or anything like that,” he said. “Just excited to play some basketball ... and go out there and try to get the job done.”

Dallas’ Luka Doncic and Kyrie Irving see it as their first opportunity to make good on a partnership that began late last season after Irving was traded from Brooklyn following a tumultuous run of two-plus seasons with the Nets.

But the duo was still learning to play with each other during their truncated time together last season and didn’t make it to the postseason. After a slow start this season, they found cohesion after the All-Star break and emerged from a deep Western Conference field.

For Irving, it has been a reminder that success can be fleeting. He won his lone championship with Cleveland in 2016 and has played with three teams over the past eight years. His time in Dallas has reinvigorated him.

“These young guys are very hungry. They want

a championship. I want a championship,” he said. “So our feelings are very mutual. But I’ve always reminded them that this is a process. Failure is going to be part of this, too. Get it out your mind that this is about to be a clean sweep or everything is about to feel good throughout this journey and all that.

“I’m just very real, very honest. That’s what’s helped me grow as a leader.”

Doncic credits the partnership with Irving for uncorking the potential of a team that entered the postseason as a fifth seed.

“His leadership is amazing,” Doncic said. “The way he connects us. I think me and Kyrie are the leaders of this team, but he’s the one that’s been in the Finals. He’s the one that won in the Finals. He’s the one that is really leading it.”

They’ll matchup with a Boston team playing like a group that has learned from its recent shortcomings. That was exhibited during a 64-win regular season that established it as a favourite to raise the franchise’s 18th championship banner entering the postseason. Through the first three rounds, the Celtics have met the challenge, losing just two games along the way under the guidance of second-year coach Joe Mazzulla.

They’ve also benefited from an offseason shakeup of its roster that saw longtime emotional leader Marcus Smart and former NBA Sixth Man of the Year Malcolm Brogdon traded in favour of 7-footer Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, who won a championship with Milwaukee in 2021.

Brown said a core that features seven players from the 2022 team that lost in the Finals to Golden State, is up to the challenge.

“I think this is a special group. I really do,” Brown said. “We’ve been able to go through the experiences of having success but not having success at the same time. I think to solidify the ultimate goal is to get over the hump and win. I think that will add a lot to our legacy. But as of right now, that story is kind of still untold.”

COACHING PERSPECTIVES

This stage is nothing new to Mavericks coach Jason Kidd, who is in the Finals for the fifth time as a player or coach. He has experienced lows, such as losing back-to-back trips to the Finals in 2002 and 2003 as a player with the New Jersey Nets. He has also seen success, earning his lone title as a player with Dallas in 2011 at age 38 and one as an assistant

on the Lakers 2020 championship team.

The biggest lesson he has taken away is to approach it like business and be ready to live with the results. That has been his message to his team throughout these playoffs.

“This is the best of the best at the highest level,” Kidd said. “It’s fun. That’s what the Finals are all about, is seeing what team is going to step forward and take advantage of mistakes.”

Mazzulla was an assistant on Ime Udoka’s staff in 2022. What he learned from that experience is that the details of winning never change, even on this stage.

“The toughest team will win,” Mazzulla said. “The team that makes the most plays will win. The team that can execute the details

at a high level will win. It’s no different.” FRIENDS AND COMPETITORS

Irving is ready for what he expects to be an icy greeting from Boston’s home crowd for Game 1 tonight.

Celtics fans haven’t held a high opinion of him since he ended two disappointing seasons in Boston by leaving for the Nets and joining Kevin Durant in free agency in 2019.

He then rankled the Boston faithful even more when he flipped his middle finger at fans after making a shot during Brooklyn’s first round playoff series loss to the Celtics in 2022.

But he said he is looking forward to matching up with “brothers” and former teammates Tatum and Brown.

“They’ve gotten tremendously better. They’ve led their team to this point. So I’m proud of them,” Irving said. “I’m looking forward to the competition because this is what we’ve all strived for since we were kids, basketball at this level playing against the best of the best.”

THE NBA FINALS WERE TOO LATE FOR DALLAS’ LUKA

DONCIC TO WATCH AS A KID. NOW, HE’S IN THEM

By TIM REYNOLDS AP Basketball Writer

BOSTON (AP) — Luka

Doncic didn’t stay up all night to watch NBA Finals games as a kid. They usually started at something like 3am in his native Slovenia. He had school to get to a few hours later. He’d wake up and find out who won. Make no mistake, though: Doncic was paying attention.

“Every kid who plays basketball dreams about this,” Doncic said. “I was one of them.”

Dreams become reality for Doncic tonight, when the 25-year-old makes his NBA Finals debut for the Dallas Mavericks as they take on the Boston Celtics in Game 1 of this year’s title series.

He could become the first player to win a scoring title and a championship in the same season since Shaquille O’Neal in 2000, and a title surely would only add to the argument that Doncic — who leads all players in this postseason in points, rebounds and assists — may be the best player in the game right now.

“This is going to be the international finals,” said Kyrie Irving, Doncic’s backcourt mate in Dallas. “Everybody’s going to be watching. Every finals is international, but the world is watching.”

He didn’t have to clarify why. Yes, the NBA Finals have long been available in more than 200 countries and territories, broadcast in something like 50 different

languages and dialects. And it’s hardly a new thing for foreign players to star on the NBA’s biggest stage; two of the past three NBA Finals MVPs were Greece’s Giannis Antetokounmpo for Milwaukee in 2021 and Serbia’s Nikola Jokic for Denver last year.

“Amazing. First time here. Hopefully it’s not the last,” Doncic said yesterday at NBA Finals media day in Boston. “But never take it for granted. You never know if you are going to come back, so just enjoy the experience.”

Doncic — who became a father for the first time this season, calling that development “the greatest thing in the world” — is a global corporation by himself, a player who speaks four languages fluently and has an enormous following everywhere. And a championship would only add to his rapidly growing legend.

“Luka is at a spectacular, stratospheric level,” Hall of Famer Pau Gasol said at an event in Spain this week. “What he has done … is within the reach of very few in the history of this sport.”

The numbers back up what Gasol is saying.

Doncic is averaging 28.7 points per game in his six regular seasons; only Michael Jordan and Wilt Chamberlain — both at 30.1 — have a higher career average. He’s the only player in NBA history to have averages of at least eight assists and eight rebounds per game. He’s one of two players with at least 10,000 points, 3,000 rebounds and 3,000 assists

through his first 400 career games; Oscar Robertson is the other.

“Game’s too simple, too easy,” Mavericks coach Jason Kidd said late in the regular season, when asked why voters haven’t rewarded Doncic with an MVP award yet. “He makes it look too easy. Unfortunately, that’s what happens with some of the greats ... we take for granted their talent.”

Doncic wants no part of talk that winning is easy. He may make it look easy — he had a league-best 73-point game this season, 13 different games of scoring at least 40 points in the regular season, and that number could have been even higher considering he scored exactly 39 points on eight other occasions.

Coaches in his native Slovenia call him the best player in the world, especially after his exploits in Olympic, European championship and World Cup play in recent years. Opposing international coaches have done the same.

“When you talk about basketball IQ, everybody

has different levels,” Kidd said yesterday. “When you look at Luka’s level of understanding the game, time and score, who’s on the floor, he is at the head of the class in that sense. When you look at the stage, he’s not afraid of the stage, of the moment. Successful or not, he loves that moment. ... We’re playing in the Finals, because of his IQ and his willingness to step up on that stage and not be afraid to fail.”

Stopping Doncic in these finals is not an option, Celtics coach Joe Mazzulla said. Containing is the goal.

“You’ve just got to be very aware of what you’re willing to live with and what you’re willing to take away and when it’s time to adjust,” Mazzulla said.

“There’s not one coverage. There’s not one player. It’s going to take multiple coverages. It’s going to take

multiple players. It’s going to take a team effort.”

The numbers don’t just happen, Doncic insists. Nor do the wins. Doncic was a proven pro before he even got to the NBA after starring as a teenager for Real Madrid, a club he has remained very close with.

But his star has continued shining brighter in each of his NBA seasons — and now, kids in Slovenia will be waking up over the next couple weeks to see how their hero did in the finals.

“It’s very hard to win,” Doncic said. “You watch a lot of film and go to work. And it’s very hard. I don’t think people understand how hard it is to win games in this league, especially in the playoffs. So, I think we earned to be here. We deserved that. Because every game we’re playing in the playoffs, it’s really hard to win.”

By JOHN MARSHALL AP Sports Writer

THIS year’s NBA draft may be one of the weakest in years, with no clear-cut choice at No. 1 and an overall lack of depth.

What it will likely have again this year: a French connection at the top.

A year after San Antonio selected Victor Wembanyama with the No. 1 pick, fellow Frenchmen Alexandre Sarr and Zaccharie Risacher could go 1-2 in the June 26 draft.

After those two, the rest of the draft could be as unpredictable as any in recent memory, players pegged to be in the lottery ending up going late in the first round or the other way around. Some team may even take a chance on using a first-round pick on Southern California’s Bronny James, son of NBA alltime leading scorer LeBron James.

1. ATLANTA HAWKS: Alexandre Sarr, centre, France

Sarr doesn’t have the all-around skills of Wembanyama, but then no one really does. He’s still extremely talented, an athletic 7-footer who can wreck rims and the hopes of opposing shooters. Sarr’s shot still needs some work, but he could end up becoming a franchise player in the next few years. Atlanta fans should love watching him throw down lobs from Trae Young.

2. WASHINGTON WIZARDS: Zaccharie Risacher, forward, France

Many NBA mock drafts have Risacher going No. 1 — and for good reason. The 6-foot-9 forward has the skills of a guard and should be a perfect fit for today’s NBA. Risacher is a superb catch-and-shoot wing who can beat defenders off the dribble and has a huge defensive upside with his length and athleticism. He may end up being the franchise player the Wizards need in their rebuild.

3. HOUSTON ROCKETS: Reed Sheppard, guard, Kentucky

The Rockets need shooters and Sheppard is certainly that. The 6-3 guard may be the best shooter in the draft and wowed Kentucky fans during his one season in Lexington. Sheppard has a high basketball IQ — both parents played at UK — is an excellent shooter coming off screens and has sneaky athleticism. He shot 52% from 3-point range and averaged 12.5 points as a freshman at Kentucky.

4. SAN ANTONIO SPURS: Nikola Topic, guard, Serbia

The Spurs already have one of the best big men in the game and adding Topi could be the perfect player to get Wemby the ball. The 6-6 guard is a super passer with great vision and size to see over defenders. He also has the strength to get into the lane and can finish strong at the rim. Topi isn’t much of a 3-point shooter, but can control a game without shooting. One issue that may dissuade teams from taking him so high: Medical tests showed he has a partially torn ACL in his left knee, which he injured twice last season in Europe.

DALLAS Mavericks head coach Jason Kidd watches play during Game 1 of the NBA basketball Western Conference finals against the Minnesota Timberwolves on May 22 in Minneapolis.

(AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

DALLAS Mavericks guard Luka Doncic warming up. (AP Photo/Matt Krohn)

New Life Invitational on Father’s Day

FROM PAGE 13

like the way we did at the World Relays,” Sands said. With this being the third consecutive hosting of the major event in The Bahamas, the NACAC president insisted that the over 170 athletes set to compete are looking forward to the Bahamian experience.

“I can tell you that the NACAC area athletes look forward to coming to The Bahamas and to competing in The Bahamas because of the fan engagement in particular, the warm hospitality and of course the accommodations and everything else that goes along with it,” he said.

The event is scheduled to begin at 6pm on Father’s Day and the schedule includes the men and women’s short and long hurdles, 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, 4x400m mixed relay events along with field events.

Drumeco Archer, president of the Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA), is expecting more Bahamians to make the Olympic cut at the New Life Invitational, particularly the relay teams. “I think this is a wonderful opportunity for many of our Bahamians to fine tune in time for our nationals. We are expecting Anthaya Charlton. I am advised tentatively that Devynne Charlton will also be competing for the women’s 4x100m team together with Camille Rutherford as well as Denisha Cartwright. I think that is perhaps the best ensemble of the women’s 4x100m team we have seen since 2000. We are expecting great performances on the women’s side,” he said. The Bahamas’ women’s 4x100m relay team has a good shot at nabbing one of the two final relay spots to land them in Paris, France for the Olympics with the

new quartet. Additionally, the BAAA president is looking forward to big performances for the men’s side as well.

“We should expect high performances on the men’s side as well with the complement of Terrence Jones together with Antoine Andrews, who has been running really well, with the fastest Bahamian for the year Wanya McCoy. None of those athletes competed at the World Relays so for them to be on the track we can expect an amazing opportunity to qualify,” he said.

On behalf of the BAAA, Archer noted that it is an honour to be able to facilitate an event of this magnitude.

And he said the federation is proud to be a part of the opportunity and will be looking forward to “exceptional performances”.

Although there will be a number of top Bahamian athletes competing on the

track, the NACAC president dropped a few big names who are expected to compete, including world champion Trayvon Bromell, World Continent Cup champion Tyquendo Tracey, Olympian Megan Tapper and top hurdler Masai Russell.

Bahamian veteran high jumper Donald Thomas is also expected to compete as well as Shakeem HallSmith, who is on the cusp of an Olympic qualification.

Cyndonie Mothersill, vice president of NACAC Athletics and member of the World Athletics Council, gave special credit to the Bahamian government for the role they have played in supporting the New Life Invitational.

“The support from the Bahamian government both last year and this year has been exceptional and highly commendable.

“Without such government backing, events of this scale would not be possible.

Therefore, I extend our heartfelt gratitude to the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture and his team as well as the Bahamian government as a whole for their steadfast support of NACAC Athletics. The NACAC Athletics Council deeply appreciates this commitment,” Mothersill said.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Mario Bowleg said the government is proud to partner with NACAC Athletics to provide yet another opportunity for athletes to book a trip to Paris, France.

“The Government of The Bahamas and by extension the MOYSC is proud to partner with NACAC and the BAAA to host the New Life Invitational here in New Providence. The government is proud to provide this opportunity for more Bahamian athletes to qualify for this year’s Paris Olympics. Offering more opportunities for our

track and field athletes to compete is essential for development and success on the world stage.

“This third edition where The Bahamas has hosted NACAC meets before solidifies our reputation as a premier destination for athletes in the region.

“Hosting events like this New Life Invitational, allows our neighbours to visit The Bahamas, compete and experience our hospitality. These international events cement The Bahamas’ position as a toptier nation when it comes to hosting international competition,” Bowleg said.

The gates will open for the event at 5pm and it will start at 6pm sharp.

Tickets are priced from $10 to $50 and can be purchased online at https:// nacacparis.com

The event will also be livestreamed on the Puma, FloTrack and American Track League Youtube Channels.

BAHAMAS’ KARATE TEAM WINS 20 MEDALS AT THE MIAMI INTERNATIONAL SHOTOKAN CUP TOURNEY

THE Bahamas’ karate team from Bassai Bahamas headed by sensei Shawn Smith, took a delegation of 16 persons which included team coach censei Smith, assistant coach Stekeia Johnson and team capFlorida to compete at the Miami International Shotokan Cup karate tournament hosted by sensei Yasuyoshi Saito, the chief instrucInternational.

On Saturday, June 1, the tournament was held in honour of sensei Saito’s 50th anniversary as a Shotokan karate instructor.

At this prestigious event, the team won a total of 20 medals. Team Bahamas was one of the smallest countries represented at the tournament. There were countries like Mexico, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago amongst many, and the United States of America (USA).

Team Bahamas was able to compete in this international tournament, resulting in all of our team members winning medals, including sensei Smith, who was presented with an honorary gold medal, from tournament host chief instructor sensei Saito.

“I am very pleased and proud of our team. We came from an open

and will be hosting training camps to sharpen our skills. Our goal is to compete at the highest level at these traditional karate tournaments. I am

so proud of my students,” Sensei Smith said. event’s results:

bronze - kata and kumite

Sa’Niya Johnson - 2 silver - kata and kumite

Ryan Rolle - 2 silverkata and kumite

bronze - kumite - kumite

Branaj Culmer - 1 bronze - kumite

Concussions are a significant concern in sports, particularly due to their potential long-term impact on athletes. As our understanding of concussions evolves, so do the strategies for managing and treating them. This article delves into the complexities of sports-related concussions, focusing on common sports where they occur, their signs and symptoms, assessment tools like SCAT 6, and comprehensive clinical management.

Common Sports and Mechanism of Injury

Sports concussions frequently occur in highcontact sports such as football, soccer, rugby, and hockey. However, they can also occur in non-contact sports like basketball and volleyball. The mechanism of injury often involves a blow to the head or a sudden jolt that causes the brain to move rapidly within the skull. This rapid movement can lead to a range of symptoms and complicate the clinical picture.

For instance, in football, a concussion might result from a direct tackle, whereas in soccer, it might

occur from a clash of heads while heading the ball. Understanding these mechanisms is crucial for prevention and management strategies tailored to each sport.

Signs and Symptoms

Recognizing the signs and symptoms of a concussion is critical. Symptoms can be immediate or delayed and include:

Headache or “pressure” in the head

Confusion or feeling “foggy”

Dizziness or balance problems

Nausea or vomiting

Sensitivity to light or noise

Difficulty concentrating or memory problems

Emotional changes, such as irritability or sadness

SCAT 6 and Assessment

Tools The Sport Concussion Assessment Tool 6 (SCAT 6) is widely used to evaluate athletes suspected of having a concussion. It includes a symptom checklist, cognitive and physical evaluation, and balance tests. SCAT 6 provides a structured and comprehensive approach to concussion assessment, ensuring that

no aspect of the athlete’s condition is overlooked.

Clinical Management Effective management of sports concussions involves several key steps: Immediate Removal from Play: An athlete suspected of having a concussion should be immediately removed from play to prevent further injury.

Comprehensive Evaluation: A thorough evaluation by a healthcare professional using tools like SCAT 6 is essential. This evaluation helps in assessing the

severity of the concussion and planning appropriate management.

Rest and Recovery: Initially, cognitive and physical rest is recommended to allow the brain to heal. This includes avoiding activities that require concentration and physical exertion.

Gradual Return to Activity: Following the rest period, a step-wise return-to-play protocol should be followed. Each stage involves gradually increasing the intensity of physical and cognitive activities while monitoring for symptoms. If symptoms reappear, the athlete should revert to the previous step.

Long-term Monitoring: Athletes with concussions should be monitored over the long term for potential complications, such as postconcussion syndrome or second impact syndrome, which can have severe consequences.

Prevention Strategies Prevention strategies are crucial in reducing the incidence of sports concussions.

These include:

Rule Changes and Enforcement: Implementing and enforcing rules that reduce high-risk activities,

Charles Grant - 1 bronze - kumite, 1 silver - team kumite

Wellington Brown - 1 silver - kumite

Sensei Shawn Smith - 1 gold - instructor participation

Zyon Pinder - 3 silverkata, kumite, team kumite Samari Culmer - 1 bronze - kumite, 1 silver - team kumite - kata Jasma Newton - 1 silver - kata

such as tackling in youth football, can significantly lower concussion rates.

Protective Equipment: Using appropriate protective equipment, such as helmets and mouthguards, can mitigate the risk of concussion.

Education and Training: Educating athletes, coaches, and parents about concussion risks and management can improve early recognition and response.

Conclusion Managing sports concussions requires a comprehensive approach that includes prevention, immediate management, and long-term care. By following structured assessment protocols like SCAT 6 and adhering to step-wise return-to-play guidelines, we can protect athletes and ensure their safe return to sports. As research continues to evolve, it is essential for all stakeholders to stay informed and apply the latest evidence- based practices to concussion management.

For more detailed information on the latest concussion management strategies and recommendations, the Amsterdam

International Consensus Statement on Concussion in Sport provides valuable insights and updates (Patricios et al., 2023). This document is a critical resource for clinicians, coaches, and sports organizations aiming to optimize the care of athletes at risk of concussion.

Bahamian sports medicine physician, sports performance coach, sports nutrition specialist, and founder of Empire Sports Medicine and Performance. Our mission is to empower athletes to reach new heights while safeguarding their health and well-being. We understand the unique demands of sports activities, and we are dedicated to helping athletes prevent injuries, overcome challenges, optimise nutrition and performance.

MEDAL HAUL: Team Bahamas at the Miami International Shotokan Cup karate tournament hosted by sensei Yasuyoshi Saito, the chief instructor of Japan Karate-do International.

Paris Olympics: Opening athlete parade on a river, not in a stadium

spectacle out of an expensively ticketed stadium and into the city where many more people can see it. A crowd of 320,000 people is expected on the riverbanks along the 6-kilometre (3.7-mile) route from Pont d’Austerlitz to Pont d’Iéna.

Tickets will be free for about 220,000 invited and security-screened spectators watching from the upper river bank.

About 100,000 paying spectators, including lavish hospitality packages, will watch from the lower riverside and around the Trocadéro plaza — where the parade will end looking across to the Eiffel Tower.

It is the most audacious plan for a main Olympics ceremony — the 2018 Summer Youth Olympics tested a non-traditional opening in downtown Buenos Aires — and its most fraught security risk.

The original plan for 600,000 spectators allowed for more spontaneity in the city but less security.

French President Emmanuel Macron has acknowledged the riverborne parade could be moved if the city is struck again by terrorists as it was in 2015. The closing ceremony on August 11 is scheduled in the Stade de France national arena after it hosts track and field in the final week.

“Since we are professional, there are obviously plan Bs, plan Cs, et cetera,” Macron said in December.

Ideally, Paris will bring its A-game.

GENDER PARITY

Paris was where women first competed at the Olympics — in 1900 with 22 of the 997 athletes in competition.

Women competed in tennis and golf, plus as part of team events in sailing, croquet, and equestrianism.

Charlotte Cooper of Britain became the first female individual gold medallist by winning the tennis singles event.

This time, for the first time, women have an equal share with men of an entry

HEAD of Paris 2024 Olympics Tony Estanguet, attends a press conference ahead of the Paris Olympics 2024 to present the opening ceremonies. (AP Photo/Thibault Camus)

quota that is now 10,500 athletes across 329 events.

“This is our contribution to a more gender-equal world,” IOC president Thomas Bach has said.

That 2.2% proportion of female athletes in 1900 had risen to 23% at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles, where American Joan Benoit won the first women’s Olympic marathon.

There were debuts in Los Angeles for rhythmic gymnastics and what was then called synchronised swimming. It is now artistic swimming and men will make their Olympic debut in the event in Paris.

As the total of female athletes approached 50%, the IOC put pressure on Olympic teams that traditionally sent only men to complete. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Brunei included female athletes for the first time at London in 2012.

It reached 48% at the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021 when teams were encouraged to select a man and a woman each to be flagbearers at the opening ceremony.

With gender parity on the field of play, a challenge for the IOC is to one day have a female president. Nine men have led the IOC since 1894.

The next presidential election is due in March 2025, and the Olympic body has only ever had one female candidate. In 2001, Anita DeFrantz, a bronze medallist in rowing for the United States at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, was eliminated

first in a five-candidate contest won by Jacques Rogge.

PRIZE MONEY

In Paris, prize money will be paid to gold medalists directly from Olympic revenues in a controversial break with tradition. Not by the IOC, however, which has clearly objected to the promise made in April by track and field’s governing body World Athletics.

Each of the 48 gold medals in track and field in Paris carries a $50,000 prize. For Los Angeles in 2028, World Athletics also wants to pay prize money for silver and bronze.

Prize money has become routine for Olympic athletes when paid by state governments and national Olympic bodies.

France will pay its gold medallists around $85,000 each. The U.S Olympic and Paralympic Committee runs “Project Gold,” which gives $37,500 for gold, $22,500 for silver and $15,000 for bronze.

However, the $2.4 million pledge announced by World Athletics president Sebastian Coe will come directly from the sport’s share of the IOC’s multi-billion dollar income from broadcasting and sponsor deals.

In Tokyo, the IOC set aside about $540 million for the collective group of Summer Games sports bodies, known as ASOIF, to share among its members. Track is a top-tier Olympic sport and so got the highest payment, almost $39.5 million.

The IOC does not want a trend to develop, prefering governing bodies spend their Olympic revenues on development projects. World Athletics is among the few with money to spare to reward elite athletes.

BREAKING THROUGH Breakdance will make its Olympic debut in Paris. Breaking’s 50-year journey from the Bronx will arrive at the Place de la Concorde, where 16 b-boys and 16 b-girls will compete on August 9-10.

The sport’s Olympic path overseen by the World DanceSport Federation follows the downtown opening ceremony concept — tested in Buenos Aires in 2018 and realized in Paris. Breaking might yet be one and done. It has been dropped for 2028 in Los Angeles before getting a chance to prove itself. Los Angeles organisers have opted instead to give cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash their modern Olympic debuts. It is unclear yet if Brisbane will push to give

breaking a second chance in 2032.

SURF’S UP Add surfing by a beach in Tahiti to the picture postcard images in store from the Paris Olympics.

Staging an event half a world away from the Olympic host city is not unique though this time it is by design, and concurrently.

In 1956, horse quarantine rules in Australia meant equestrian events were held in Stockholm, Sweden, five months before the opening ceremony in Melbourne.