IAAF President Lamine Diack had some time to rest after a busy 2005, bringing in 2006 in the Bahamas.
Diack arrived in the nation’s capital Nassau on Wednesday, 28 December and spoke at a press conference arranged at the Nassau International Airport. This was the second visit for Diack to the Bahamas, the first being during the 2002 Carifta Games.
The following day, he met with the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture Neville Wisdom and spent the afternoon with some of the Bahamas’ athletes, who got a rare opportunity to meet with the sport’s worldwide leader.
That evening he was the guest of honour at the Federation’s Annual Awards Banquet, where World and Olympic Champion Tonique William’s Darling was selected as overall Athlete of The Year. Chris Brown, fourth place finisher in the 400m in Helsinki, and silver medalist in the 1600m relay, won the Male Athlete of the Year Award.
In attendance were Bahamian Prime Minister Perry Christie and Neville “Teddy” McCook, Area Representative for NACAC.
Christie was the first Bahamian to win a field event medal in international competition when he won the bronze medal in the CAC Games Triple Jump in 1962.
On Saturday, December 31st Diack had a working lunch with the federation. The next morning Diack was guest of honour of the Government at the New Year’s Day Junkanoo Parade before leaving for Dakar.
Alpheus Finlayson for the IAAF
