For the first time ever, The Bahamas will be represented in gymnastics at the Pan Am Games.
Simone Hall, Toneka Johnson and Kiana Dean all competed in the Pan Am Gymnastics Championships this summer in Mississauga, Ontario; based on their collective performances, Hall will be returning to Canada as the sole Bahamian gymnast of Pan Am Games 2015. It's a feat of giant proportions, and Gymnastics Federation of The Bahamas President Barbara Thompson couldn't be happier.
"We are making our mark, and these young ladies are setting the example for many other aspiring gymnasts to follow," said Thompson. "I'd like to thank to the Bahamas Olympic Committee for assisting us and enabling gymnastics to advance to this level. It's been a long road, but we finally developed a program which enabled us to have representation at the Pan Am Games next year. It's a wonderful accomplishment and I'm looking forward to it."
The historic feat comes on the heels of The Bahamas taking part in the Pan Am Championships in gymnastics for the first time ever. And now, one of those three athletes will be packing her bags for the Pan Am Games, which are set for July 10-26, 2015, in Toronto, Ontario. It is the highest level for regional competition in the Americas.
"This is a great achievement for sports and The Bahamas on the whole," said Bahamas Olympic Committee (BOC) President Wellington Miller. "We would like to thank the president of the Gymnastics Federation of The Bahamas Barbara Thompson and her executive team, the coaches, parents and, of course, the record-breaking, history-making athlete herself, Simone Hall. On behalf of the Bahamas Olympic Committee, and all of our member groups, I would like to wish that you have a productive trip to Canada in 2015."
The Bahamas received an invite from the Pan American Gymnastics Union (PAGU) to compete in the upcoming Toronto Pan Am Games 2015. At the Pan Ams next year, Hall is expected to go up against 56 other gymnasts from 19 nations, and the Bahamas Olympic Committee is making provisions to have her take part in a training camp prior to competing.
"I'm very proud of these young ladies," said National Coach Trevor Ramsey. "This moment didn't happen overnight - it was a very long process. There has been many struggles, but these girls here today have accomplished a milestone. I hope to see more athletes follow them, and just for the sport to grow more here in The Bahamas."
Ramsey said that attending the Pan Am Championships in Mississauga was an eye-opening experience for them.
"We realized that we have a lot of work ahead of us, in order to prepare for the Pan Am Games. We definitely need to seek training outside of The Bahamas, in better facilities. Once we could do that, and these girls could get the support from the whole Bahamas, we could achieve great things," he said.
Hall said she learned a lot from the experience at the Pan Am Championships and is now looking forward to competing in the Pan Am Games.
"The experience at the Pan Am Championships was overwhelming. There were a lot of athletes who had more skills than us, but we just went in there and competed to the best of our ability," she said. "We have a lot more to do, and the road is long, but I'm sure that we are going to make it."
Johnson, who said that she was nervous during the Pan Am Championships, is optimistic as well.
"That was my first time in a competition like that. The level of competition was top notch, and I was nervous the whole time, but overall, it was a good experience," she said. "I just want to get better, and try to make it to the Olympics. The talent is there."
The other young lady of the three-member team in Mississauga, Dean, studies and trains in the United States.
BOC Secretary General Romell "Fish" Knowles said that about 60 percent of the total grant from Olympic Solidarity is geared toward "small sports", such as gymnastics. He said that the BOC is committed to working with young people, assisting in their development.
The BOC also revealed yesterday, that nine young Bahamian athletes have been awarded grants, through Olympic Solidarity, leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The grants carry a value of $780 per month for each athlete for a duration of 22 months, climaxing one month before the start of the Olympics. The nine successful athletes are: Simone Pratt in tennis, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace and Joanna Evans in swimming, Cynthia Rahming in judo, and Shane Jones, Raymond Higgs, Ryan Ingraham, Lathone Collie-Minns and Shaunae Miller in athletics.
Rahming, a 4.0 grade point average (GPA) student, who is the sole judo athlete on the list, said that she is grateful for the assistance and will continue to train hard leading up to the Olympics.
"I'm very thankful for the scholarship. It will help a lot. I'm working on strength training and could feel myself getting stronger. I intend to increase the intensity of my training. My experience at the Commonwealth Games really motivated me because I do not want to lose again. I'm just looking forward to good performances from here on," she said.
The financial grants are awarded two years prior to the Olympics for each quadrennial period, and are primarily intended for aspects such as training, coaching, nutrition and travel. Also, the respective athletes have to report to the BOC on their progress every four months. Otherwise, the grant could be cancelled. A grant could be cancelled due to injury as well.
"These grants are awarded with a view of them participating at the next Olympic Games," said BOC Secretary General Knowles. "This is an elite program encompassing athletes who have the highest possibility of making it to the Olympics. Internationally, you would have had to compete at a very high level and you would have had to be approved by the respective international federation.
"These grants help the athletes with their development leading up to the Olympics. Also, at the end of the program, the Bahamas Olympic Committee will give each of the athletes $5,000 and a travel grant. They travel to quite a number of events to train outside of what we do here, so we want to make sure that they are properly compensated."
For the last Olympic period, a total of six Bahamians were subvented, and now that number has increased by three. Knowles said that they will be handing out continental grants as well, specifically designed for development for high level regional competition.
"The continental grants will be given to the smaller federations with respect to the Pan Am Games, the CAC (Central American and Caribbean Games) and the Commonwealth Games, but ultimately, our task is to prepare Olympians," said Knowles. "We're asking the various federations to use these resources for its intended purposes, and to keep athletes in the pipeline. We want to know what you have in the pipeline. We cannot continue to grow the sport if we don't have athletes in the pipeline. What we want is a smooth transition and no gaps from one generation of athletes to the next. There must be consistency in the program. That's the only way we are going to succeed - build capacity in all Olympic sports and develop the entire Olympic program."
Overall, Knowles said that the BOC will allocate about $150,000 for the subvention of athletes leading up to the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics. He said that through Olympic Solidarity and the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO), they have assisted in the training and development of about 15 sports on the Olympic program.
Among other smaller Bahamian sports federations and associations which were singled out for this type of advancement by the BOC were archery, handball, rowing, cycling, judo, volleyball, boxing, equestrian and bowling.

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