Dear Sir,

Please afford me space in your column to address something that has been bothering me for some time now.

Yesterday, August 24, 2004, a young Bahamian athlete Tonique Williams-Darling won a gold medal in the women's 400 metres race at the Olympic Games in Greece. What I witnessed here in the Bahamas had a bigger impact on me than what I witnessed when the Bahamian ladies won the 4x100 relay gold medal at the Olympic Games in Syndey, Australia.

The entire country came to a standstill for the 49.41 seconds it took Tonique to run this race and accomplish a first for not only the Bahamas but for the entire Caribbean, that is, an Olympic gold medal in an individual track event. This proved to me once again that sport unites a country.

There were two Bahamians in that final race, Tonique Williams-Darling and Christine Amertil and the country threw its weight equally behind both of these athletes.

The same has occurred today with Debbie Ferguson of the Bahamas winning bronze in the women's 200 metres race. The country stopped to watch the race.

I say all of this to say that Bermudians should be ashamed with the complete lack of support it has offered to its athletes over the years.

In reading the local papers on-line I have noted with interest that the bulk of the Olympic coverage has been focused on Peter Bromby and Paula Lewin in their sailing efforts.

It would also appear that the bulk of the sponsorship money goes to these persons. Some may get offended but it is still true that most of the sponsorship money given out in Bermuda is given to the predominantly white sports.

There has been extensive press coverage for each and every Bahamian athlete participating in the Olympic Games, whether they make it out of the heats or not. You see it is not so much about winning as it is about proudly representing your country.

Sports in the Bahamas is a very big part of the Bahamian society and Bahamians stand fully behind their athletes, whether it is the five-year-old playing soccer, the high school graduate who has just secured a basketball scholarship to a US university, the young Bahamian who is drafted into the NFL or the likes of a Rick Fox formerly of the LA Lakers.

Recently the Bahamas cricket team participated in a cricket tournament in Bermuda. The team did not win a single match but the coverage was extensive because it is the support that keeps the athletes wanting to improve. Without support from your country it is very difficult to compete on the world stage.

In her interview after the race, Tonique Williams-Darling said that as she ran the race she could feel the support of the Bahamas and it was this support and the support she has had over the many years it took to get to this point that helped her to achieve what she has achieved.

Why is it that we as Bermudians are only willing to support our athletes after they have "arrived"?

What many may not realise is that the Bahamas Government shows its support and appreciation to its athletes as well. For her gold medal, Tonique Williams-Darling will receive $45,000 in cash ($5,000 for making it to the medal round and $40,000 for winning gold) and a piece of real estate. These incentives are also available to athletes reaching the medal rounds and winning medals at major track and field events, such as the Indoor and Outdoor World Championships.

As Bermuda claims to be such a wealthy country, surely it too can provide the necessary support and incentive for its athletes. The only way to get to the level where one is capable of seriously competing at the Olympic Games is to travel the world participating in top level competitions against the best in the world. To do this takes a great deal of money and as one is representing his/her country at these events surely the country can assist or at the very least provide incentives based on performance.

Personally, I think excluding Clarence Hill from the Bermuda Sports Hall of Fame was a travesty. This man won a bronze medal in the Olympic Games and Bermuda did nothing to acknowledge his accomplishment at the time he won it and now he has been brushed aside once again.

Had Bermuda rallied behind him and treated him the way a national hero should be treated his personal life may have been different. Furthermore, what he has done with his personal life has nothing to do with his bronze medal accomplishment and should not be considered when deciding on whether or not he should be inducted into the Hall of Fame.

How many of the younger Bermudians know that Randy Horton and Sam (Cat) Nussum played professional soccer with the New York Cosmos alongside people like Pele and Franz Beckenbauer? How many are aware that Senator Kim Swan played golf on the European PGA Tour?

It is a well know fact that sports has the effect of uniting a nation. It has also been known to bring unity between political opponents and cease fire between warring countries.

Many have made comments about the cost of having embassy offices around the world under an independent Bermuda. Well, these same people might be very interested to know that in the last week or two the Chinese Government has committed $30 million to assist with the further development of the Bahamas National Sports Centre.

Surely this donation more than offsets the cost of the various Bahamas Embassy offices around the world. It also goes to show what could happen when you control your own destiny and are able to negotiate directly with other countries without having to go through the "Mother Country". Just something to think about.

You can rest assured that upon their return to the Bahamas the athletes will receive a ticker tape parade. In addition to supporting their athletes, Bahamians offer full support to their people. When there is a local play being held every performance is sold out, when the local musicians put on a concert it receives greater support than that of any foreign act. When the music group Bahaman won a Grammy for its recording of "Who Let the Dogs Out" the pride shown by the people of the Bahamas was overwhelming. The accolades for Sir Sydney Poitier are continuous. When his daughter completed the first film she produced it was released first in the Bahamas. Bahamians are simply proud to be Bahamian and are very proud of their fellow Bahamians.

Why can't Bermudians support their own as other countries do? Look at how Bermuda performed in the World Cup qualifier against El Salvador. That performance was due in large part to the support the team received. Just imagine where the Bermuda National Football team could go if it received 100 percent support from the country. But even with this support from the population the Minister of Sports was publicly attacking the BFA in the midst of the campaign. We need to do better than that.

We know the UBP couldn't care less but it is now time for the PLP to show that the success of Bermuda is not only based on economics. Athletic competition has virtually been removed from schools in Bermuda and it is time to bring the competition back. This competition created some very good athletes and the inter-school sports we had when I was in school brought about camaraderie.

I call upon the various sporting bodies to stop the in-fighting (what went on in the lead-up to CARIFTA was ridiculous) and to work with the Government to make certain that funding is made available for the various sporting programmes.

Former athletes who know first hand the hard work and discipline it takes to succeed should also be actively involved in the process. Funding can take various forms, one of which is enticing university scouts to visit Bermuda to possibly find talent and offer scholarships (it does happen in The Bahamas and the Caribbean). When outstanding athletes are discovered I feel it is imperative that they are given every possible opportunity to succeed. We are all aware of how a sporting career can enhance one's life.

These are my thoughts and surely there are many more out there who feel as I do and nothing can happen without action.

GUILDEN M. GILBERT JR

Dear Sir,

Olympic 'Games marred by tedious TV coverage' is an understatement because this was the most boring Olympic Games TV coverage that I can recall and I have been around a long time.

I am not against the pool events and volleyball but I feel that when it came to some of the more popular Olympic sporting events, they were getting less coverage than they deserved with the pool events and the volleyball getting more coverage than they deserved.

There is no balance here.

On another note, when it came to interviewing winning athletes from other nations other than the United States, NBC certainly showed their biased colours.

I was beginning to wonder if it was the inter-United States Olympic Games.

ALEX ANDERSON