BVI Olympic Committee executive committee: L-R; Mark Chapman, Neville "Sheep" Smith, Roy Barry, Dean "Sportsman" Greenaway, Zebalon McLean, Ephraim Penn and Rey O'Neal. Photo>Gordon French

TORTOLA--Ephraim Penn was elected as the third president of the BVI Olympic Committee in the 28-year history of the organization.

Penn—who succeeded founding member Rey O’Neal, who stepped down after being at the helm of the organization for 24 its 28 years—defeated John Lewis, 10-2.
The post of 1st Vice President was the keenest contested, with BVI Softball Association president Neville “Sheep” Smith, defeating Lewis 7-5 after a 6-6 first round tie. Lewis had been a member of the committee since 1988.

Roy Barry, BVI Volleyball Association Vice President, got the nod for 2nd Vice President, when Cycling Federation President David Thomas withdrew.

Treasurer Mark Chapman and Secretary General Dean Greenaway were elected by acclimation. Zebalon McLean became the athlete’s representative by a 10-2 margin over Gloria Fahie. Thomas, who was unopposed, remains as Public Relations Officer.
Penn, who was first elected to the executive in 2006 elections, said some programs have been started as well as a structure and he’d like to see it expanded by revisiting it, examining where it is, what worked and to begin building new programs with the executive that can be implemented with the general body.

“The key thing for us is to strengthen our national federations, both in the talent identification programs, their administration,” he said. “And to also get more courses improve the level from where we are right now, so we have a lot of work ahead of us with our national federations and we need to get more national federations up to speed. But most importantly, we need to have training programs for our different athletes in different sports.”

Penn said he would like to see the facilities in the different communities that can facilitate the type of training for them to compete internationally

© Copyright 2008-9 BVI Olympic Committee

Top of Page