Reigning 400m Olympic champion Steven Gardiner and World Indoor 60m hurdles champion Devynne Charlton will be flag bearers for The Bahamas at the much-anticipated Paris Olympic Games opening ceremonies on Friday.

Gardiner and Charlton are among the 20 athletes that will represent The Bahamas at the global multi-sport showpiece, which is currently under way and is scheduled to end on August 11.

Track and field and swimming are the two disciplines that the Bahamian contingent will contest at the Games.

Quartermiler Shaunae Miller-Uibo, high jumper Donald Thomas, who is making his fifth Olympic appearance, NCAA and national record holder in the javelin Rhema Otabor, decathlete Ken Mullings, and Charisma Taylor, who contests the triple jump and the 100m hurdles, are also on the team.

Rhaniska Gibbs and Lamar Taylor will represent the Bahamas in the pool.

Meanwhile, quartermiler Lacarthea Cooper finished third in the women’s 400m at the BAAA’s Nationals in 53.38 seconds behind second place finisher Quincy Penn in 53.35 seconds, but did not make the team.

However, Shania Adderley finished fifth in 54.50 seconds and was named to the Olympic team for her contributions as a member of the 4x400m mixed relay team at the World Relays.

Bahamian Rhema Otabor picked up her country’s second Athletics medal at the 2023 Pan American Games in Santiago, Chile when she claimed silver in the women’s javelin throw on Friday.

The 20-year-old produced a best distance of 60.54m, her first throw over 60m, to finish second behind Colombia’s Flor Denis Ruiz who threw 63.10m for gold.

The USA’s Madelyn Harris took bronze with 60.06m.

This continues an excellent season for the Nebraska Junior.

She also took top spot at the NCAA Championships in June with a 59.49m effort, the Bahamian national title with 59.75m in July and NACAC Under-23 title with 57.48m later that month.

Despite missing out on the final, Rhema Otabor of Bahamas, had much to be proud of, as she was the lone Caribbean representative in a stacked women’s javelin event on day five of the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary on Wednesday.

Otabor, the NCAA champion, entered the championship in good knick, having recently broken the girls’ Under-23 record at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Under-18 and Under-23 championships, but was unable to replicate that form on the day.

The 20-year-old, competing in Pool B of the qualifiers launched the instrument to a best mark of 53.62m, which was well off her personal best of 59.75m. Prior to that, Otabor threw a mere 48.34m and later failed to achieve a mark on her final attempt.

You can catch live action of the 2023 World Athletic Championships by downloading the Sportsmax App.