SPORTS SECTION E
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7, 2016
Predictions
AFC & NFC, Page 2
‘Golden girl’ Shaunae out of Diamond Race
By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net
A
contractual breakdown between the management team of Rio Olympic women’s 400 metre champion Shaunae Miller and the meet promoters will keep the Bahamian rising star out of the AG Insurance Memorial Van Damme on Friday. Miller’s manager, Claude Bryan, confirmed to The Tribune on Tuesday that the national 200m record holder will skip the final IAAF Diamond League Meeting. “Kindly note. We were unable to come to terms with the Brussels Diamond League so unfortunately Shaunae Miller will not be competing in the Belgium capital,” Bryan confirmed with The Tribune. “Her season has effectively ended and she hopes for a healthy and successful 2017.” Bryan said it was fiscal in nature when pressed about the decision for Miller not to compete. Miller dropped to second place in the Diamond League standings in the one-lap race by just one point behind Jamaican Stephanie Ann McPherson, was not included on the entry list provided by the IAAF. Miller, 22, was scheduled to be one of two Bahamians competing in the meet. The other is high jumper Donald Thomas, who is confirmed on the list. In addition to McPherson, included on the list for the women’s 400m is Caster Semenya, of the Republic of South Africa, who last week clinched the women’s 800m Diamond League title in Zurich, Switzerland. Others include Jamaican Olympic 400m bronze medallist Shericka Jackson, Americans Natasha Hastings and Courtney Okolo, Italy’s Libania Grenot, France’s Floria Guel, Canada’s Carline Muir and Ukraine’s Olha Zemlyak. While McPherson holds a slim 31-30 point lead over Miller, Hastings is sitting in third place with 28. The next contender is Jamaican Novlene Williams-Mills with 17, but she too is not competing in
OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST Shaunae Miller will not be competing in the final IAAF Diamond League Meeting in Brussels, Belgium, on Friday. Brussels. So Miller’s absence could bring the race down to a showdown between McPherson and Hastings for the overall title. Miller, winner of three of the races held in the series, was on target to become just the second Bahamian to win both the Olympic and Grand Prix title, following in the footsteps of national record holder Tonique Williams, who did it in 2004. The women’s 400m started in Shanghai, China on May 14, and continued in Eugene, Oregon on May 28, Oslo, Norway on June 9, Stockholm, Sweden on June 16, London, England on July 23 and Paris, France on August 27. The winner of the Diamond Race Trophy will earn USD $40,000. There is also an incentive of $10,000 for winning the race on Friday.
Miller is coming off her stumbling dive across the finish line to clinch the gold over American Allyson Felix in the women’s 400m in Rio. She suffered the bruises as a result. On her return home for a celebration, she indicated that she was disappointed that she didn’t get to go for the double in the 200m where the heat was on the morning of the 400m final. In Rio, Miller was in the pool for the women’s 4 x 400m relay, but didn’t contest the preliminaries as the quartet of Lanece Clarke, Anthonique Strachan, Carmiesha Cox and Christine Amertil went on to lower the Bahamas national record in falling short of qualifying for the final. If she would have gone to Brussels this weekend, the women’s 400m would have been one of the most keenly anticipated show-
downs. Plus, many would have liked to see how Miller would have matched up against Semenya, who could be adding the event to her 800m specialty next year at the IAAF World Championships in London, England. Instead, the men’s high jump, featuring Thomas, is now listed as one of the most thrilling events of all from a Diamond Race perspective. With only six points separating Bohdan Bondarenko in first from Robbie Grabarz in fourth, the competition is incredibly finely balanced. If any of Bondarenko, Grabarz, Mutaz Essa Barshim or Erik Kynard win in Brussels, they will be crowned Diamond Race champion. Barshim and Bondarenko are the Olympic silver and bronze medallists. Gold medallist Derek Drouin from Canada is not en-
tered. Thomas, ninth in Rio, is not in the rankings for the title, but he could earn some extra change for his appearance on Friday, if he does compete. There’s no indication that he won’t be making the trip to Brussels. He too was unavailable for comments. Only Mutaz has jumped higher than Thomas this season at 2.40 metres or 7-feet, 10 1Ž2-inches. Thomas, with his personal best of 2.37m (7-9 1Ž4), has matched the SB of Bondarenko. However, Mutaz (2.43m/7-11 1/2), Bondarenko (2.42m/7-11 1Ž4)) and Ukraine’s Andriy Protsenko (2.40m/7-10 1/2) have PB higher than Thomas. The men’s high jump series included Doha, Qatar on May 6, Rabat, Morocco on May 22, Rome, Italy on June 2, Birmingham, England on June 5, Monte-Carlo, Monaco on July 15 and Lausanne, Switzerland on August 25. Last week, men’s national record holder Steven Gardiner completed the men’s 400m series in Zurich tied for fourth place with Nery Brenes of Croatia with 10 points. Gardiner placed fifth in Zurich in 45.66 as Merritt ran away with the race in 44.64. The other six meetings for their series were at the same as the men’s high jump in Doha, Rabat, Rome, Birmingham, Monte-Carlo and Lausanne. American LaShawn Merritt, the bronze medallist in Rio, won the title with 50 points. His nearest rival was Grenada’s Bralon Taplin with 24. Isaac Makwala of Botswana was third with 20. Republic of South Africa’s Wayde van Nirkerk, who set a world record in picking up the gold in Rio, along with silver medallist Kirani James from Grenada, didn’t compete. Gardiner, 20, didn’t advance out of the semi-final of the men’s 400m in Rio. But he ran the third leg on the men’s 4 x 400m relay team of Alonzo Russell, Michael Mathieu and Chris ‘Fireman’ Brown that picked up the bronze behind the United States and Jamaica respectively. Stephen Newbold ran in the preliminaries instead of Mathieu, while Demetrius Pinder was an alternate.
Bodybuilding & Fitness Federation names 38-member CAC team By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net WITH about three weeks left to complete all of the necessary arrangements, the Bahamas Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation has provisionally named a 38-member team to defend its title at the Central American and Caribbean Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships. Whether or not the full team travels to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, September 29 to October 2 will depend on if the federation can secure the necessary funding from both the Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture and Ministry of Tourism. Joel Stubbs, completing his first full year as the new president of the BBFF, said after winning the title last year here at home, they are eager to see how well they can go out and defend their title this year. “The team was picked basically from what we saw on the stage the other night,” said Stubbs about the federation’s National Bodybuilding and Fitness Championships at the Melia Hotel. “All of them have top calibre bodies right now, but our national coach Raymond Tucker and the chief judge are heading to Grand Bahama this weekend and they
will make further assessment of the competitors and if their bodies have declined rather than inclined, then they will be slashed off the team.” If they don’t secure all of the funding necessary, Stubbs said the federation will be forced to carry what he termed an “elite 21” team. “Some of them have the potential, but from the bodies that I saw to what they need to be, they still need to get there,” Stubbs pointed out. “So if they can improve over the three weeks remaining, then it would be good in our interest. “But if they don’t, then we will have to cut them from the team. I think that would work even more in our best interest because we are still looking for the funding to carry everybody. We have an elite 21 that we can definitely take care of. But we are looking at trying to get the extra funding to carry the others.” Stubbs, winner of the 2003 CAC heavyweight championship to earn his pro card, said based on the team they are looking at taking to Santo Domingo, if the Bahamas doesn’t win the title, he is looking for no less than the runner-up spot. “I’ve already found out that Barbados, one of our biggest rivals, will not be carrying a full team because of some indifferences in their federation
TEAM BAHAMAS
• Here’s a look at the competitors provisionally named to the Bahamas’ CAC team: Masters: - Jimmy Norius and Valdez Campbell Women’s Fitness - Julia Mellor Men’s Fitness - Theo Burrows Women’s Figure - Dekel Nesbitt, Lindsay Curry, Kiesha Miller and Chanice Bain Women’s Physique - Tammy Stubbs and Lorraine Lefleur Men’s Junior Physique - Ryan Lewis Men’s Physique - Endierich Rahming, Kiaf Young, Alberto Ambrister, Gemo Smith and Theo Pyfrom Women’s Wellness - Cara Saunders and Daphne Porter Fox Women’s Bikini Junior - Allysa Fox and Akaela Nesbitt Women’s Master Bikini - Daphne Porter Fox Women’s Bikini - Rosan Knowles, Gil Brown, Shakira Ferguson, Carina Ferguson, Allysa Fox and Akaela Nesbitt Men’s Classic Bodybuilding - Andrew Sweeting, Wellington Wallace, Rashied Edgecombe and Desmond Bain Men’s Bodybuilding - Stephen Robinson, Lynden Fowler, Jimmy Norius, Mario Sweeting, Vincent Paul, Orrick Nesbitt, Jamiel Hamilton, Valdez Campbell and Bernard Davis B TEAM Maria Michopoulou, Linda Pierre and Tina Malcolm
that has led to some of their top bodybuilders sitting out,” Stubbs said. “I think we will have them in the bag. “Venezuela, who is also usually up there, we don’t know who at this time and point they will be bringing, but we know that when the championship is held in a Spanish speaking country, these
teams normally come full force because they feel that their chances are much better.” Looking at the make-up of the team, Stubbs said the strength is in the women’s figure category and the men’s bodybuilding. “Our bikini seemed to be very weak this year,” Stubbs said. “We don’t have the likes of Amy Sands,
Kadesha Culmer and Noami Fatel. They were three powerhouses last year. “We have a new slate of bikini competitors this year. Carina Ferguson didn’t win her division last year, but she was able to pull it off and became the overall champion. But it’s questionable if she and any of the other bikini girls can pull off a gold medal. They all have their work to do to get tighter. They have time to do it. If they take the time, they can look a lot more prosperous at CAC.” The competitors in women’s figure, according to Stubbs, along with the men’s upper class in bodybuilding – light heavy, heavy and super heavy – all seem to be right on par to perform very well. “With the men’s bodybuilding, we won the men’s bantamweight, men’s lightweight and men’s welterweight gold medals back-toback last year, but we don’t have that this year with Charles Reckley and Paul Wilson sitting out.,” Stubbs said. “That’s two medals we have lost already. “But we’re hoping that men’s champion Jamiel Hamilton, who is in tip-top shape, along with Vincent Paul and Bernard Davis, and welterweight champion Jimmy Norius, who all have better physiques than last year, we should be able to get four gold medals from them.”