Swimming In Paradise: We Need More Space, Pools and Funding

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The roar of an Olympic stadium – athletes say it’s a feeling that cannot be replicated.

Yet there are only a handful of Bahamian swimmers who’ve experienced it. 

Nikia Deveaux, Jeremy Knowles, Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace, Alana Dillette and Joanna Evans are among the Bahamian swimming legends who know what it feels like enter an Olympic pool.

But recently the field has narrowed to less than a handful of Olympic qualified swimmers. 

President of The Bahamas Aquatics Federation Algernon Cargill offers a few explanations.

“At the sprint level, for example of 50m, which is equivalent to say 100m and track and field our swimmers are very competitive internationally based on the time standards but when we look beyond the 50m, 100m or 200m for example or even distance races, we are not having any success,” Cargill said.

“So that tells me that the coaches have something now to focus on training for a longer distance races.”

Lamar Taylor and Rhanishka Gibbs were the only two swimmers qualifying for the 2024 Paris Summer Games.  

Neither Taylor in the 100m free or Gibbs in the 50m free advanced beyond their heats which brings us to the other handicap for our swimmers identified by Cargill – the lack of pool space.

“This pool is over subscribed,” he said.

“We have a lot of swimmers or clubs that cannot get the desired lanes to train and while you can train in a 2 m pool, it’s not the same as training in the pool you’re actually gonna race in so The Bahamas would definitely benefit, particularly in New Providence for at least one more 50m pool,” he said.

“In terms of whether it’s indoor or outdoor, it’s certainly more expensive to have an outdoor pool but certainly it would eliminate the weather factors and also reduce operating cost because the condensation in this pool in terms of being outdoor and  not covered, etc. increases the operating cost.”

If the limited space and facilities aren’t enough, add on insufficient funding and we begin to better understand the full picture.

“Every time we request some sort of support, the doors are closed and there’s no opportunity to even discuss it and it really disappoints us because the money is not for executives, it’s for these  young people in the pool,” Cargill said.

“It helps us with training and the kids can travel and they can focus on what they do best- swim and train. They don’t have to worry about raising money to travel.”

You would think with six consecutive CARIFTA Championships and back to back Goodwill Games titles fundraising would be a no-brainer. 

Not so, Cargill accuses corporate Bahamas of being far less generous to swimming compared to track and field.