A lesson in humility has been served to the one-term executives of the Bahamas Olympic Committee. Anton Sealey, an outgoing vice president, refused to be associated with the group opposed to Wellington Miller to the bitter end, and he opted out of the election battle. Sealey's name had been placed in nomination but he was not appreciative and withdrew well before election date, April 12, 2013. What follows pertains not to him. It appeared that former vice presidents David 'Stretch' Morley, Algernon Cargill, Mike Sands, ex-treasurer Larry Wilson and his assistant Dianne Miller were set to pull out all the stops to topple Wellington Miller from the highest sports executive position in the land.

Supportive of Miller were his Secretary Romell Knowles, Vice President Roy Colebrooke and Assistant Secretary General Kathy Dillette. Needless to say, those executives, along with Miller survived the "night of reckoning". The vast majority of the member federations determined that they would side with the Wellington Miller faction. It is common knowledge that the four successful executives were all a part of the revolutionary group that ousted the old guard back in 2008. Along the way, the group that was soundly defeated indicted clearly that Miller was not a good preference for presidency of the Olympic Movement in The Bahamas. This view, it is understood, became cemented very early into the past term.

It got to the point whereby there was a distinct division and accordingly, ongoing friction. Quite frankly, there seemed to be a strong feeling among those opposed to President Miller that he was not qualified for the position. It was expressed also by outsiders that Miller was not sharp enough to lead the most significant sporting organization in the nation. Well, let's put out there a couple things about Wellington Miller. In 2008 when the Bahamian Olympic Movement's "revolution leaders" ran into a solid wall and recognized that they needed Miller to gain control through an election, he was appealed to.

His response was that he would cross over to them, but only on the condition of being president. That's pretty sharp, I would say. Then, while the group that opposed him was on the attack, he, with the help of Knowles, quietly built extensive support among the lesser profiled member federations. I think that was smart indeed of Miller. The end result was overwhelming. It was devastating for the opposing executives. Morley withdrew his name during the meeting, but the others were lambasted. The exclamation point was Dianne Miller being whitewashed 12-1 for the assistant treasurer's position.

They had put themselves up on a pedestal. Clearly the rest of those who really count within the Bahamian Olympic Movement did not think that highly of them. You see, in the end it was not as much about Wellington Miller and his capacity to lead. It was simply evident that the group opposed to him included nobody the vast majority of the voting delegates felt impressed about. They just didn't see in that group anyone who gave them confidence going forward. Ironically as it turned out the delegates for the most part didn't appear to think much about their "capacity" to lead at this moment in time. We can thus ask a question. Exactly who demonstrated smartness? o To respond to this column, kindly contact Fred Sturrup at sturrup1504@gmail.com

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