And the Island will take that role even further next week when the Bermuda Olympic Association host the third meeting of the IOC Working Group of Women in Sports.

Eighteen members of the working group, including IOC vice president Anita Defrantz, will participate in the conference at the Hamilton Princess on Tuesday, continuing an initiative begun with the appointment of the commission four years ago.

High on the agenda this year: Reviewing the particiaption of women in the last month's Winter Olympic Games in Nagano and continuing the push for further participation of women, particularly among Islamic nations.

Asked if the board had been successful, Austin Woods, BOA president and the National Olympic Committee representative, said: "Absolutely.'' The number of female participants has increased from 1,567 in the 1984 Los Angles Summer Olympics to 3,626 in the 1996 Atlanta Games, according to statistics released by the IOC. The 1994 Winter Olympics featured a record 523 women and this year's Games in Japan were expected to surpass that.

Taekwondo, triathlon and weightlifting will be added to the women's programme for 2000.

The IOC have delegated the group to persuade other nations to encourage more female participation, using funding as a prod, Woods said. Other recommendations include providing seminars for women in administration, leadership and coaching roles and encouraging the media to promote more women's sports.

"This is a working group,'' Woods said yesterday. "This is not a committee and that will go on forever. We have an objective and once that objective is achieved, the job of the working group is finished.'' Woods' role is also noteworthy in that he represents the committees of all 197 Olympic countries.

How did Bermuda reach this prominence? Two words, Woods said: Pamela Gordon.

"One of the main reasons Bermuda was selected was because most poeple are familiar with the Premier as a Sports Minister,'' he said. "One of the things they noticed is that here was a Minister of Sports -- a female Minister of Sports -- rising to position of Premier.'' Premier Gordon's contacts, familarity and presence during her three-year stint as Sports Minister was invaluable for Bermuda, said Woods, who also took part in the past meetings in Lausanne, Switzerland, and Casablanca, Morocco.

Woods also pointed out that Bermuda was one of the few nations linked to Commonwealth, Olympic, Pan-Am, and Caribbean competition.

"Bermuda has a lot of respect internationally, not only because of our location and credibility but also because of the work in the Olympic movement,'' he said.

Defrantz, an American who competed in rowing in the 1976 Games, is pegged as the successor to IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch. She is currently the first female vice president of the IOC. Among other members of the working group are Mustapha Larfaouli, president of the world swimming body (FINA), Shenrang Lu, president of the World Badminton Federation and Michael Fennell, president of the Commonwealth Games Federation and president of the Jamaica Olympic Committee.