Vereance Burrows could becomes the fourth Bahamian swimmer to head to the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. The Bahamas is expected to find out today if he has been selected by virtue of having achieved an Olympic selection time. (Photo: File)
The Bahamas is expected to find out by today the latest if the country will be represented by four swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Already, three are going -- Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace will compete in the women's 50 and 100 meters (m) freestyle event, Texas freshman swimmer Joanna Evans has met the Olympic qualifying time in the women's 800m free, and Ohio State sophomore Dustin Tynes has been given a universal spot in the men's 100m breast. Vereance Burrows is on the outside looking in. He has an Olympic selection time in the men's 50m free, and can only be selected if the quota of 900 athletes in athletics has not been met, after spots would have been allocated to swimmers who have either met the Olympic qualifying times, relay-only swimmers and universality swimmers.
Universality places are granted by national federations, and approved by National Olympic Committees (NOCs), regardless of time, and limited to one per gender, as long as that particular country has no swimmers reaching the standard entry times. However, both Tynes and Burrows could receive invitations based on both of them having achieved Olympic selection times. If only one is invited, the universality spot to The Bahamas will be revoked, meaning only that selected swimmer will represent The Bahamas at the Olympics.
The swimmers meeting the Olympic selection times will be invited based on their positions in the FINA (International Swimming Federation) World Rankings.
The 2016 Summer Olympics is less than a month away, set for August 5-21 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"We have already confirmed Dustin Tynes universality spot, so he is eligible to go. By tomorrow, we should have word on whether or not Vereance has been invited," said Bahamas Swimming Federation (BSF) President Algernon Cargill. "Dustin has a higher ranking that Vereance so it is very likely that only Dustin would be invited based on the 'B' qualifying times. We're hoping for the best regardless."
Once again, The Bahamas experienced a remarkable year in swimming. The country finished second in CARIFTA swimming after winning the overall title two years in a row, the country won its first ever Caribbean Islands Swimming Championships (CISC) title, and for the second time in history, the country has two female swimmers qualified for the Olympics. Vanderpool-Wallace has posted qualifying times of 24.31 and 53.97 seconds in the women's 50 and 100m freestyle events, and Evans has a national record-setting qualifying swim of 8:32.19 in the women's 800m free.
"We are certainly satisfied with what we were able to accomplish in swimming this year," said Cargill.
"We finished second at CARIFTA, won CISC for the first time ever, and we are poised to do well at the Olympics. We're hoping that all of our swimmers could advance in their respective events. Arianna has a very good chance of making the finals in both of her events, Joanna is coming along very well in the 800m free and Dustin is coming along as well. Whatever happens, we would want them to give it their best shots and learn from the experience. Overall, the world is getting much faster in swimming. Our goal is just to go there and perform at our best."
The Bahamas is the only Caribbean country with two swimmers meeting the Olympic qualifying times, and will have at least three competing in Rio de Janeiro. Burrows could very well be a fourth, but whatever happens, Cargill said that they are satisfied. He said that the experience they get during the Olympics will be second to none.
Sheldon Longley, Guardian Sports Editor
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