Today in History: February 13

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NASSAU, BAHAMAS – On this day in Bahamian history, St. Francis Xavier Cathedral in Nassau, was dedicated by Archbishop Michael Augustine Corrigan of New York in 1887.

The cathedral held its first mass three months earlier on November 7, 1886.

Then in 1956, Governor Dan Ranfurly, born Thomas Daniel Knox, confirmed that 22 miles of the Exuma island chain had been set aside as a protected area.

The area would become part of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park when it was established in 1958. It’s the world’s first protected area of its kind and is administered by Bahamas National Trust.

Two years later, Eldece Clarke was born. She was a part of the Bahamian team that won the silver medal in the 1996 Olympics 4 x 100 meter relay.

She also ran in the preliminary rounds in the 2000 Olympics 4 x 100 meters relay in Sydney, that would later get her the gold medal when the Bahamian team won the final earning them the title the Golden Girls.

In 1972, sprinter Andrew Tynes was born. Tynes is a retired multi-medal winning track and field athlete who specialized in the 100 meters, 200 meters and the 4×400 meter relay.

Tynes represented The Bahamas in the Olympic games, world championships, Pan American Games, Commonwealth Games, Central American and Caribbean Games and the CARIFTA games.

On February 13, 1989, another Olympic medalist, Demetrius Rashad Pinder was born in Freeport.

In 2012 he was a member of the men’s 4×400 meter relay team that won the gold medal at the Olympic Games in London.

After the win the team was dubbed ‘ the Golden Knights.’ Pinder also won a bronze medal in the 4×400 meter relay at the 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil.