$36 Million Funding Sparks Eyes on Bahamas Relays; Noah Lyles and Team USA Plan New World Record

The decade-old Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in the Bahamas is undergoing a landmark $36 million restoration. On May 5, 2024, Nassau will play host to the World Athletics Relays for the fourth time. The top 14 teams competing in events like the mixed-gender 4×400-meter relay and the men’s and women’s 4×100-meter relay will qualify for the Olympics in Paris. Aiming for a new world record, Team USA, led by track stars Noah Lyles and Gabby Thomas, has recently revealed its entire roster of athletes, heightening the anticipation.

The Bahamas stadium has a distinct international story. But it’s astonishing to learn that the price of building LSU’s acclaimed outdoor track and field stadium was only 12.5% of that of the World Athletics Relays venue. Here are some more details to keep you interested as the anticipation for the lightning-fast speed show on the Bahamas tracks grows with every stride.

World Athletics Relays sets the stage for Noah Lyles’ record

According to World Athletics, 32 national teams will compete in each relay event with 20 races slated across the two days of competition on May 4-5. The relays are the first stage for Team USA to earn spots in five distinct Games sports. Gabby Thomas, Tamari Davis, Tamara Clark, and Melissa Jefferson will lead women’s races. The sprint relay quartet that won Team USATF 4×100 gold in Budapest, will be one to look out for, reported NBC Sports. With his gold-rush performance in the men’s 4×100 in Budapest, Noah Lyles is the main man on the men’s roster. Olympic silver medalist Kenny Bednarek and Courtney Lindsey, who narrowly missed the final in Budapest, are some other qualifiers to keep your eyes peeled for.

The first day of competition will qualify 40 teams for the Summer Olympics and feature 20 heats in five Olympic-level events (4 heats each for 4×100, 4×400, men, women, and mixed). The two teams who place highest in each heat will automatically be qualified for the 2024 Games. Day two will see the qualification of 30 more national teams from those five events, comprising 5 finals and 15 heats.

In 2022, the Bahamas topped Lausanne, Rome, in the bid that made the Bahamas’ whopping $36M venue an unignorable highlight. Interestingly, the Chinese gave the stadium to The Bahamas in 2012. The government of the People’s Republic of China and the Commonwealth of The Bahamas signed an implementation agreement for the stadium’s renovations in December 2023, bringing their shared vision to life. The Chinese government is now providing funding for the renovation. This is part of an initiative to improve the nation’s sporting facilities for the benefit of young athletes. This vision now spotlights the significantly less expensive refurbished outdoor track and field facility at LSU.

LSU’s outdoor stadium renovation project

Bernie Moore Track Stadium, an outdoor track and field facility on the Louisiana State University campus in Baton Rouge, underwent a stunning makeover compared to the Bahamas’s multi-million dollar makeover of the Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium. The US spent $4.5 million on the renovation project, which might be a surprise given it’s less than 15% of the cost of the Bahamas Stadium.

The $36 million project will update the roofs, seating, turf, scoreboards, LED screens, and other areas. By contrast, the recently constructed LSU stadium now has four pole vault runways, two shot put arenas with a combined total of six throw circles, two dual-directional horizontal jump runways, and one multi-purpose high jump area that can accommodate three high jump events simultaneously. Not to judge a book by its cover, but let’s hope the $36 million is worth it. Do you agree?