Recap 2015 Pan American Games

The 2015 Pan American games will go down as one of the most successful games for team Bahamas.

The 6-medal tally from Toronto (2 Gold, 2 Silver, and one Bronze) was just one medal shy of the mark that the team achieved in the 2007 Rio de Janeiro Pan American Games.

The Bahamas has always been a force in Track and Field, but for the first time in Pan American Games history the Bahamas won individual medals in swimming, with Arianna Vanderpool-Wallace hauling in two, a gold in the 50m freestyle and Bronze in the 100m freestyle.

The only other medal that the Bahamas has won in swimming was during the 2007 Pan American games in the 4x100m Freestyle relay.

On the track the Jeffery Gibson lead the way giving the Bahamas the only gold in Athletics in the 400m hurdles, running a personal-best 48.51 seconds defeating 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Javier Culson.

The men’s 4×400 was in prime position to take the gold leading the race with 60 meters to go. Trinidad, Cuba and the USA ran past Gibson leaving the Bahamas in 4th place. The Bahamas team then went through some controversy where they were disqualified, for running out of lane, then later reinstated to 3rd place, with Cuba being disqualified for Irregular composition of Team.

Cuba would win the appeal of the disqualification and the Bahamas would be relegated to fourth.

The Bahamas was productive in the field events where they won three medals in the Long, High, and Triple Jump.

Leevan “Superman” Sands started off the week off not being apart of the team, but then was later approved for competition. We can all now say that Sands took the most advantage of his opportunity, not only winning the silver with a seasons-best 16.99m, but also now qualified for both the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Hours after Sands secured his medal, Bicanca “BB” Stuart on her 5th attempted leaped to 6.69m, which sealed the silver for her. She was off her form from the BAAA Nationals where she jumped a National Record of 6.81, but will have a chance to improve her

Comments