Algernon Cargill, president of the Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF), and former vice president of the Central American and Caribbean Amateur Swimming Confederation (CCCAN), 2010-2104, was elected on Monday June 22, at the 2015 CCCAN Congress being held for the 2015 CCCAN Championships in Bridgetown, Barbados, to represent the region on the executive body of the Union Americana de Natacion/UANA (Swimming Union of the Americas).
Cargill’s four-year term will commence immediately after the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada. He received 39 votes, and followed by Errol Clarke of Barbados, former president of CCCAN and current FINA (International Swimming Federation) Bureau member, with 31 votes. Clarke will join Cargill as a UANA executive member.
Current CCCAN President Felix Calderon, of Puerto Rico, received 10 votes and Ishmael Gonzalez, who is currently a UANA executive member, received six votes.
“This really puts The Bahamas in a very prestigious position, primarily in terms of leadership, but also in terms of the influence throughout the CCCAN region,” said Cargill. “CCCAN is a group of 28 countries that comprises of english, spanish, dutch and Central America, and parts of South America also.
“This position puts me in the inner circle in terms of the development of swimming globally to set policies not only in the CCCAN region, but throughout the world. It’s a position that enables The Bahamas to use this influence and move in a more strategic direction in terms of swimming.”
Cargill was also elected to serve as the automatic delegate for the CCCAN region on the FINA Bureau, with his four-year term in that capacity set to commence in 2017. In this election held in Barbados, he received 33 votes. Errol Clarke, who was re-confirmed to continue serving on the FINA Bureau commencing in 2017, received 28 votes. He is expected to be re-elected by the global delegates at the 2017 FINA Congress, Cuban Eugenio Martinez, current FINA Bureau member, was unsuccessful in his bid to continue to serve. He received 14 votes, followed by Felix Calderon, the current CCCAN President, who was again unsuccessful, receiving 13 votes.
“This means that my work with the swimming federation of The Bahamas has been recognized by my colleagues around the world and also puts me in the position to acknowledge all of the great things that we have done here in the BSF to move the federation foward as a swimming powerhouse globally,” said Cargill.
Cargill’s election to these two global positions, the highest in swimming, is great news for the BSF. According to reports, his campaign was based on the strength of his effective leadership of the BSF, together with his contributions as the vice president of CCCAN, and professional acumen and experiences.
Cargill is not only the first Bahamian to serve at this level in swimming, but he is only the second English Caribbean person to be elected to the FINA Bureau. Under Cargill's leadership, The Bahamas through the BSF received its first world medal, its first Olympic youth medal, advanced to a swimming final at the Olympic Games, won its first Commonwealth Games medal, won many Central American and Caribbean (CAC) medals (more than any sport competing for The Bahamas at the CAC Games in 2010 and 2014), and won back-to-back CARIFTA swimming titles in 2014 and 2015.
Cargill’s executive team with the BSF also introduced the Academic All-Bahamian Awards, sponsored by the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC), that recognizes outstanding swimmers who have qualified to compete in the RBC National Swimming Championships and have achieved a grade point average (GPA) of 3.50 or above. This year, more than 100 swimmers are being recognized for this prestigious award.
The RBC National Swimming Championships is set for this weekend, Thursday to Sunday, at the Betty Kelly-Kenning National Swim Complex.
Cargill is an experienced swimming technical official and is currently a FINA referee and starter, and was recently appointed to the FINA list of Open Water Referees. These qualifications enable him to judge pool and open water swimming at any level, including the Olympic Games and World Championships. Cargill’s immediate goals are to unify the CCCAN region, and use his competency in Spanish to bridge the cultural divide that currently exists within CCCAN, and promote CCCAN, a region that comprises 28 countries, as an influential and powerful block of countries with quality swimmers, disciplined officials, and well managed federations.
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