Despite another planned attempt by The Bahamas to dethrone multiple-time winners Jamaica at the 2012 Carifta Games in Bermuda, the perennial champions, who have won every Game since 1985, ran away with the Championships, carrying with them a massive 77-medal haul: 34 gold, 24 silver, 19 bronze. The Bahamians trailed in second place with 13—13—12, with Trinidad and Tobago reaping 8—9—7.
On the first day of the three-day affair, Jamaica surged into the lead collecting 27 medals, followed by The Bahamas with 13. And they never looked back. By the end of the second day, Jamaica’s tally increased to 49, with 25 gold, including an under-17 girls discus record by Paul Ann Gayle. The Bahamas remained in second place with 25 medals (9 gold).
In the closing minutes of the Games yesterday, Jamaica attempted to sweep all four remaining events, the 4x4 relays, winning the first three races before they were beaten into third place by The Bahamas and Trinidad and Tobago, who took first and second, respectively, in the Under-20 Boys event.
Bahamian sprinter Anthonique Strachan defended her sprint-double titles and won the Austin Sealy Award for the most outstanding athlete of the Games. Having clocked 11.22secs (4.4w) in the under-20 girls 100m on Saturday, Strachan returned yesterday to post 22.85secs (-0.7w) in the 200m to break the 22.90 record she shared with Jamaica’s current World and Olympic champion Veronica Campbell-Brown. She also anchored her 4x1 relay team to victory.