It has been said that The Bahamas has a Triple Jump farm. This event has figured quite positively in the History of Bahamian International Track and Field competition.  

Introduction  

Ambrose Hanna, while in the army in Cairo, Egypt in 1944, was introduced to the event, formerly called the Hop Step, and Jump. He introduced the Triple Jump to The Bahamas upon his return in 1946.  

The event was first contested in The Bahamas in the May 24^th meet in 1946. He along with Charley Moss participated in the1957 West Indian Games.  

Five years later at the Central American and Caribbean Games held in Kingston, Perry Gladstone Christie won the country’s first medal in a field event, a Bronze in the Triple Jump with a leap of 14.98m. There was some mix-up in the news from Kingston. The Tribune had announced that Hartley Saunders had won the Gold. It was actually Jamaican Mahoney Samuels of Foothills Junior College in California who had won. Once it was discovered that Saunders had not won the Gold, the announcement of Christie’s Bronze did not get the acclaim it deserved.  

Brief Highlights  

Peter Pratt won the first medal in the Carifta Games in 1973 when he jumped 13.94m for the Bronze in Trinidad and Tobago.  

In 1980 Lyndon Sands won the first Bahamian medal in the inaugural Pan American Junior Championships in Sudbury, Canada.  

Frank Rutherford won the first Bahamian medal in an IAAF event when he jumped 17.02m for the Bronze at the inaugural IAAF World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis.  

In 1988 Eugene Greene won the Bronze in the Triple Jump in the IAAF World Junior Championships in Sudbury, Canada. Greene was the first Bahamian to win a medal in the World Junior Championships. 

Four years later Rutherford became the first Bahamian to win an Olympic Track and Field medal for The Bahamas when he jumped 17.36m for the Bronze medal.  

Eleven years after Rutherford’s historic feat, Leevan Sands won the Bronze medal at the IAAF World Championships in Paris in 2003. He jumped 17.26m in a season in which he defeated the World Record holder Jonathan Edwards in London with a 17.40m leap.

At the Beijing Olympics Sands won another world Bronze when he jumped and Bahamian National record of 17.59m.

These have certainly been some of the highlights of our colourful history of the Triple Jump, but the story is not complete without the mention of numerous other athletes.  

Hartley Saunders  

Hartley Saunders attended Morgan State. He competed in the Triple Jump at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964, making him the first Bahamian to participate in a field event in the Olympic Games.  

Saunders jumped 14.59m for the 28^th qualifier in the event.  

Timothy Barrett  

In 1966 at the Central American and Caribbean Games in San Juan, Timothy Barrett, a student of Government High School, surprised the region when he won the Gold medal in the Triple Jump. Barrett’s jump was 15.76m to beat his former Bahamian National record. This was the first Gold for the Bahamas other than those by the great Tommy Robinson. It was also the first Gold in a field event.  

Later that year Barrett finished fourth in the Commonwealth Games held in Kingston with a 15.73m jump. He later went on to the University of Southern California where he placed third in the 1968 NCAA Championships, assisting his team in winning the championships.  

Barrett transferred to the University of The West Indies in Jamaica in the fall of 1968 and participated in the 1968 and 1972 Olympic Games. He won a Bronze medal in the 1971 Sr. Central American and Caribbean Championships in Kingston in 1971 with a jump of 15.32m.

Philip Robins  

Phil Robins attended Government High School and entered Southern Illinois University in the fall of 1972.  

In 1976 Robins became the first Bahamian to win a NCAA Outdoor Championships title when he jumped 16.73m to set a new Bahamian National record at the championships in Philadelphia.  

Robins fouled all of his three jumps in the qualifying rounds at the Montreal Olympics that July. Still he was ranked 10^th worldwide by Track and Field News that year.  

This was the first and last time he participated for The Bahamas.  

Peter Pratt  

Pratt was the first Bahamian Carifta medalist. He attended Mankato State College and in 1977 won the Bronze medal in the Sr. Central American and Caribbean Championships in Jalapa, Mexico.  

His performance was 15.42m.  

Steve Hanna  

Steve Hanna attended St. John’s College in Nassau. He was a great Long and Triple Jumper. Steve is the son of Ambrose Hanna who brought the Triple Jump to The Bahamas.  

Hanna won a Bronze medal in the Long Jump at the 1977 Sr. Central American and Caribbean Track and Field Championships in Jalapa, Mexico with a 7.68m jump.  

At the 1978 Central American and Caribbean Games in Medellin, Colombia, Hanna won the Triple Jump with a 16.60m jump and ran a leg of the 4x400m relay in the semi-final. This relay broke the Bahamian National record with a time of 3:10.52.  

Hanna attended The University of Texas and El Paso and won both 1980 and 1981 NCAA Triple Jump championships. In 1980 Hanna won a Bronze medal in the Liberty Bell Classic in Philadelphia. 

This was the USA”s alternate for the Moscow Olympics. His performance was 16.42m.

At the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, Hanna placed fourth with a 16.56m jump.  

In 1983 he won the Pre-Olympic meet held in Los Angeles. Steve finished twelfth in the inaugural Helsinki World Championships. His jump was 14.96m. He had jumped16.76m for third place in the qualifying round.  

He had the 14^th best performance in the Los Angeles Olympics with a 16.14m jump.  

Hanna was invited to the inaugural Goodwill Games in Moscow in 1986, where he finished 10^th with a 16.25m jump.  

Norbert Elliott  

Norbert Elliott attended St. Augustine’s College in Nassau and followed Steve Hanna to the University of Texas at El Paso.  

Elliott was the best Bahamian performer at the 1987 Rome World Championships. His 16.79m placed him in ninth place.  

In the Seoul Olympics the next year Elliott had the 8^th best qualifying performance of 16.43m and he finished in tenth place in the final with a 16.19m effort.  

Lyndon Sands  

Lyndon Sands attended Government High School in Nassau and the University of Houston. While at Government High, Lyndon won the Under-17 Triple Jump in the 1980 Carifta Games in 15.03m.  

That season Sands won the Bronze medal at the inaugural Pan Am Jr. Championships in Sudbury with a jump of 15.05m.  

In 1981 Sands won the Triple Jump in the Under-20 Division at the Carifta Games with a 15.64m jump. Sand’s last competition of note was in the Long Jump in the Los Angeles Games where he placed nineteenth in the qualifying round with a leap of 7.32m.  
 

Brad Johnson  

Brad Johnson hailed from Grand Bahama and attended Texas Southern University in Houston.  

Johnson won the 1980 Carifta Under-20 Triple Jump with a leap of 15.31m. Later that year at the Central American and Caribbean Jr. Championships in Nassau Brad won with a jump of 15.27m.