Contrary to early reports, not from this medium, The Bahamas women's 4x400 meters (m) relay team has not qualified for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, and neither has the men and women's 4x100m relay teams.
The women's 4x400m relay squad was the closest of the three, finishing 17th overall after the aggregate of the two fastest times at IAAF sanctioned meets were compiled from competing nations over a one and a half year period. The Bahamas finished with an aggregate time of 6:58.80, missing out on the 16th and final qualifying spot by 39 hundredths of a second. The Bahamas posted times of 3:28.46 and 3:30.34. The national record time of 3:28.46 was ran by the quartet of Lanece Clarke, Christine Amertil, Katrina Seymour and Shaunae Miller at the Beijing World Championships last year; and the time of 3:30.34 was done by the quartet of Clarke, Amertil, Carmiesha Cox and Shaquania Dorsett at the Blue Marlin Track and Field Classic this past weekend.
The only good news for The Bahamas is that Russia is 10th, and Russian athletics is currently suspended for widespread doping as investigations revealed a culture of cheating and even included the accusation that secret services were involved. If a Russian appeal is not honored by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, Switzerland, The Bahamas will be moved up to the 16th spot and eligible to compete in the Olympics, which is rapidly approaching, set for August 5-21, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
"It's a tough situation, but it is what it is. All we could do right now, is sit tight and hope for the best," said Bahamas Association of Athletic Associations (BAAA) 1st Vice President Tonique Williams.
"The ladies who ran this past weekend did a tremendous job with the opportunity that they had. I think that we as an association have to look at the number of opportunities that our teams got and how we can improve on that going forward, so that we won't be on the bubble coming down to the end of qualification periods and don't find ourselves in this position again. We have to put our teams together early and have them available when it's time to compete.
"I'm very satisfied with their performance. One of the ladies who ran this past weekend, Shaquania Dorsett, is still a junior. She ran at CARIFTA this year. The bottom line is that we have to look at getting opportunities for our relay teams to compete more in the future, and that comes with more planning."
To put The Bahamas' times into perspective, the final qualifier for the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, the Netherlands, had an average time of 3:29.20. Hence, one could look at the difference maker as possibly being the absence of the country's fastest female sprinter, Shaunae Miller. One more run by her on a 4x400m relay team, and the country could have been in a favorable position to qualify. However, according to reports, Miller sustained a cut on her foot while training, and as a result, wasn't in a position to run at the Blue Marlin Classic last weekend.
It's now up to a CAS ruling on Russia, determining whether or not The Bahamas will compete in the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in the women's 4x400m relay.
"We don't necessarily wish something bad to happen to Russia, but that's how it goes sometimes," said Williams. "As it stands now, we need their ban to be upheld in order for us to compete. Right now, it's just a waiting situation for us. We will continue to prepare the team, and if Russia is reinstated, then we'll just have to move on. The main this is that we don't want our athletes to lose this momentum that they would have gained."
As for the other relay squads, the men and women's 4x100m relay squads didn't finish in the top 20, and the men's 4x400m relay team is safe, based on a top eight finish at the International Association of Athletics Federations' (IAAF) World Relay Championships right here in The Bahamas in 2015. The men and women's 4x100m relay squads and the women's 4x400m team missed a golden opportunity at those world relays.
Sheldon Longley, Guardian Sports Editor
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