|-- THE BEST SPORTS DEBATE IN BERMUDA --|

Olympic medal hopes - Dead in the water?

By James Whittaker
"It's all over bar the crying". That was sailor Peter Bromby's verdict on his chances of making a fifth straight Olympics after his mast snapped mid-race in Miami yesterday.
He could equally have been talking about Bermuda's medal hopes.
With Bromby out of the picture, what chance does the island have of claiming a podium spot in Beijing?
Triathlete Flora Duffy has shown she can compete with the best in the world but is still a big outsider.
After that, everyone else will be there largely for the experience.
As it stands only Duffy and equestrians Jill Terceira or Patrick Nesbitt have qualified. Swimmers Keira Aitken and Roy Allen Burch and track athletes Xavier James, Arantxa King and Tyrone Smith are close.
But it could be a very small contingent heading for China in August.

Some thoughts on higher duties for boats

By Tom Vesey
A big hike in duty won't kill sailing as a sport, any more than a few million bucks guarantees success in cricket.
If people want to do it, they'll find a way - be it sailing in home made punts or hitting sixes in the street with a piece of wood and a garbage can by way of equipment.
Boating is perceived as a rich person's sport, whether boaters like it or not. Worse than that (from the point of view of boaters hoping the Government will show some mercy or for anybody trying to convince
politicians to show mercy at tax time) it's seen for the most part as a rich white man's sport. These aren't exactly the folks we're trying to help out with our social engineering these days.
But if you're going to raise money off the backs of boaters, you could be a bit more creative and constructive about it than just hacking up duty from 33.5 per cent to 55 per cent.