Bahamas News
Caribbean is Sensational at Summer Olympics
#TheBahamas, August 4, 2021 – The Caribbean has 44 million people; together. The performances at the Tokyo Summer Olympics from Caribbean athletes, even those who have Caribbean heritage have been astounding to say the least. It was and continues to be thrilling to watch these fine athletes collect the valuable hardware from a ‘Games’ which is a year late and wrought with complexities as a result of the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.
The Caribbean women have emerged as pioneering figures in these games, a fact not lost on another Caribbean woman of sports who has exemplified that ladies can not only prepare what is on the table, but join the feast as equal partner and leader at the table.
““It gives me great pride and honor as I reflect on the incredible accomplishments of the women participants of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020. It is fair to say that not only are women breaking glass ceilings in leadership positions around the world but women are now dominating in sports arenas around the world. Congratulations to all the female achievers of the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, in particular our Caribbean Sisters who continue to raise the bar. You are an inspiration to all of us and we are forever proud of you and your achievements,” said Sonia Fulford, President of the Turks and Caicos Island Football Association (TCIFA) and newly re-elected member of the FIFA Council.
Even as we prepare this issue of The Magnate; regional people celebrate the gold medal performance of Andre De Grasse of Canada who has secured first place in the Men’s 200m, with a career best time. De Grasse is the son of a Barbadian man and a Trinidadian woman.
And while we could be wiped out by the feats of the men and women who reflect our diversity as an English, French, Dutch and Spanish speaking region, we are not and the expectation for more, is high and will not go unquenched.
Jamaica is by far is rolling out the most headline grabbing show.
“Without having the crowds, you can actually feel the love and the comradery there. You can see that they have really bond together well because after coming off such a tough period we are really happy that Digicel has been able to carry the Games on Sports Max,” said Addison Stoddard, CEO of Digicel TCI which is not only offering expert commentary by Caribbean professional athletes, trainers and former Olympians but an mobile App to watch on the go.
“You have 15 channels you can scroll across and select any of the channels on the (Sports Max) App and watch any of the events.”
This is great news; the unencumbered access to the planet’s premier sporting event where Elaine Thompson-Herah would deliver the first huge and historic deed when she smashed the 33-year Olympic record of celebrated female US Champion – Florence Griffith-Joyner in the 100m. In a time of 10.61 Thompson-Herah is firmly cemented as the fastest woman ever in the Olympics and tidily raised the bar in her home country of Jamaica where the time is also now the national record.
Elaine wasn’t even born when Flo-Jo ran that race in 1988; Elaine at 29-years old would not only lead a one-two-three- sweep of the 100m event for Jamaica (ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce, second and Shericka Jackson, third) but would go on to power through in the 200m for another landmark victory.
In the race, filled with famous and accomplished female athletes from six other countries of the world, Thompson-Herah unequivocally earned another gold medal. The thing is, this was no ordinary gold. This triumph solidified Elaine as both the most captivating figure of health, strength, beauty and speed and the Queen of Sprints because no other female athlete has ever won both the 100m and 200m at two consecutive Olympics; those being Rio Games of 2016 and the current Summer Games in Tokyo, Japan.
“The Olympics have been absolutely amazing and we are so proud of the accomplishments of Elaine Thompson-Herah, breaking the Olympic record in the 100 and great performance by ShellyAnn Fraser-Pryce also but Elaine is definitely the Queen at the Olympics in the sprints,” said Mr. Stoddard in commenting to The Magnate.
In the Women’s 400m hurdles we had another fantastic demonstration of sensational athleticism by several Caribbean women. Though Devynne Charlton of The Bahamas would not make the medal stand, one of the shortest (height-wise) in the field, it would be another ‘shorty’ who would prove very successful. Again, hailing from the Sprint Capital of the World: Jamaica, millions of television viewers were locked onto the race and eventually wowed by Megan Tapper.
Tapper, and her spirited personality won the individual bronze, becoming the first woman from the English Speaking Caribbean to medal in the event.
“I am happy to see the young lady in the 100m hurdles, Tapper. That was really a very good run. She defied all odds, she is barely 5’ 1” and had to jump over all of those high hurdles, while sprinting. And a really good event was Rai Benjamin, getting a silver medal in the 400m hurdles in record breaking time,” Stoddard, a sports enthusiast himself reminded, “Rai Benjamin, although he is an American, he is the son of a former West Indies medium base bowler from Antigua and Barbuda called Winston Benjamin; his father played cricket for the West Indies team.”
The gold medal show stopper in the same race as Megan was from the Camacho line. Hailing from Puerto Rico, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn during the heats set a new Olympic Record and then went on to secure the first individual gold medal for a Puerto Rican woman at any Games; only the second gold in the country’s history.
The results was a beautiful recompense for Jasmine who DQed out of the event at the 2016 Rio Games and missed a medal many said she would have surely won.
The other Latino-Caribbean countries are working spectacularly on the field and off. Cuba has 12 medals in the Games, the most of any Caribbean region country. The Dominican Republic has 3 medals, including one in female weightlifting.
Crismery Santana, 26 years old has earned a bronze and the DomRep is beaming with joy at her historic feat.
The Cuban long jumpers were almost gold and silver in the men’s event, until their Greek counterpart Miltiadis Tentoglou pulled off an upset in his final effort; snatching the gold. The men – Juan Miguel Echevarria and Maykel Masso – would walk away with a limp each and the silver and bronze for the Republic.
There is great expectation in the Women’s 400m on Thursday; it features Shaunae Miller-Uibo of The Bahamas; who has come to defend her Rio Games title in the event. Miller-Uibo has run well in these Games, but even veteran Olympic champion and compatriot Pauline Davis-Thompson is worried.
The Bahamian Golden Girl expressed, in her Sports Max interview on Wednesday that, she is a concerned about Miller-Uibo who showed some weakness in the 200m; Shaunae placed last in the event after three consecutive sessions of running the 200m and 400m heats and final.
PM: Project delivers on promise and invests in youth, sports and national development
GRAND BAHAMA, The Bahamas — Calling it the fulfillment of a major commitment to the island, Prime Minister Philip Davis led the official groundbreaking for the Grand Bahama Aquatic Centre, a facility the government says will transform sports development and create new opportunities for young athletes.
Speaking at the Grand Bahama Sports Complex on February 12, the Prime Minister said the project represents more than bricks and mortar
— it is an investment in people, national pride and long-term economic activity. The planned complex will feature a modern 50-metre competition pool, designed to meet international standards for training and regional and global swim meets. Davis said the facility will give Bahamian swimmers a home capable of producing world-class performance while also providing a space for community recreation, learn-to-swim programmes and water safety training.
He noted that Grand Bahama has long produced outstanding athletes despite limited infrastructure and said the new centre is intended to correct that imbalance, positioning the island as a hub for aquatic sports and sports tourism.
The Prime Minister also linked the development to the broader national recovery and revitalisation of Grand Bahama, describing the project as part of a strategy to expand opportunities for young people, create jobs during construction and stimulate activity for small businesses once operational.
The Aquatic Centre, he said, stands as proof that promises made to Grand Bahama are being delivered.
The project is expected to support athlete development, attract competitions, and provide a safe, modern environment for residents to access swimming and water-based programmes for generations to come.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
The Bahamas, February 15, 2026 – For the better part of three years, Bahamians have been told that major Afreximbank financing would help transform access to capital, rebuild infrastructure and unlock economic growth across the islands. The headline figures are large. The signing ceremonies are high profile. The language is ambitious. What remains far harder to see is the measurable impact in the daily lives of the people those announcements are meant to serve.
The Government’s push to secure up to $100 million from Afreximbank for roughly 200 miles of Family Island roads dates back to 2025. In
its February 11 disclosure, the bank outlined a receivables-discounting facility — a structure that allows a contractor to be paid early once work is completed, certified and invoiced, with the Government settling the bill later. It is not cash placed into the economy upfront. It does not, by itself, build a single mile of road. Every dollar depends on work first being delivered and approved.
The wider framework has been described as support for “climate-resilient and trade-enhancing infrastructure,” a phrase that, in practical terms, should mean projects that lower the cost of doing business, move people and goods faster, and keep the economy functioning. But for communities, that promise becomes real only when the projects are named, the standards are defined and a clear timeline is given for when work will begin — and when it will be finished.
Bahamians have seen this moment before.
In 2023, a $30 million Afreximbank facility for the Bahamas Development Bank was hailed as a breakthrough that would expand access to financing for local enterprise. It worked in one immediate and measurable way: it encouraged businesses to apply. Established, revenue-generating Bahamian companies responded to the call, prepared plans, and entered a process they believed had been capitalised to support growth. The unanswered question is how much of that capital has reached the private sector in a form that allowed those businesses to expand, hire and generate new economic activity.
Because development is not measured in the size of announcements.
It is measured in loans disbursed, projects completed and businesses expanded.
The pattern is becoming difficult to ignore. In June 2024, when Afreximbank held its inaugural Caribbean Annual Meetings in Nassau,
Grand Bahama was presented as the future home of an Afro-Caribbean marketplace said to carry tens of millions of dollars in investment. What was confirmed at that stage was a $1.86 million project-preparation facility — funding for studies and planning to make the development bankable, not construction financing. The larger build-out remains dependent on additional approvals, land acquisition and further capital.
This distinction — between financing announced and financing that produces visible, measurable outcomes — is now at the centre of the national conversation.
Because while the numbers grow larger on paper, entrepreneurs still describe access to capital as out of reach, and communities across the Family Islands are still waiting to see where the work will start.
And in an economy where stalled growth translates into lost opportunity, rising frustration and real social consequences, the gap between promise and delivery is no longer a communications issue.
It is an inability to convert announcements into outcomes.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
A hardline strategy that reduced murders, gunfire, and collateral deaths
The Bahamas, February 8, 2026 – What happens when police stop routinely granting bail to high-risk suspects and aggressively execute outstanding warrants? In The Bahamas, the answer in 2025 was fewer murders, fewer gunshots, and safer communities.
The Royal Bahamas Police Force arrested 4,337 individuals on outstanding warrants last year, ensuring suspects were brought directly before the courts instead of being released back onto the streets. At the same time, police significantly curtailed the use of police bail for high-risk and repeat offenders, particularly those already entangled in violent disputes.
Police Commissioner Shanta Knowles said the shift was informed by hard lessons from previous years. Intelligence reviews showed that
many homicide victims were not random targets, but men already wanted by law enforcement and — critically — by other criminals. When released on bail, those individuals often became targets themselves, triggering retaliatory shootings that spilled into neighbourhoods, roadways and public spaces.
By keeping high-risk suspects in custody pending court appearances, police say they disrupted that cycle — removing both potential offenders and potential victims from the streets.
The impact was stark. Murders declined by 31 percent in 2025, falling from 120 in 2024 to 83, the largest percentage decrease in homicides since national tracking began in 1963 and the lowest murder count in nearly two decades.
Police leaders say the strategy also reduced the collateral damage that had increasingly alarmed communities. Innocent residents had been caught in “sprays of gunfire” as targeted attacks unfolded in residential areas, at traffic stops, and in public settings.
Gun-violence indicators reflected the change. Gunshot reports fell by 35 percent, while incidents detected by ShotSpotter technology declined by 29 percent, confirming that fewer shots were being fired across the country.
“Gunshots ringing out and cutting through our peaceful paradise were down remarkably,” Commissioner Knowles said, attributing the improvement to decisive enforcement, tighter bail practices, and sustained pressure on offenders.
Police also intensified enforcement against breach of bail conditions, charging and detaining more suspects than in any previous reporting period. Officers say the approach removed the opportunity for repeat offending while matters were before the courts.
Police leadership said the results go beyond statistics. By limiting bail for high-risk suspects and executing warrants at scale, the strategy saved lives, protected bystanders, and restored confidence in public safety.
In 2025, fewer people were hunted, fewer bullets were fired, and fewer families were left grieving — a shift police say was no accident, but the result of deliberate, hardline choices.
Angle by Deandrea Hamilton. Built with ChatGPT (AI). Magnetic Media — CAPTURING LIFE.
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