CARSON?BROOMES, a former Barbados champion and one of the top bodybuilders in the country during the early and mid-90s, is dead.
Broomes, a World Championship semi-finalist at the 1992 Mr Universe contest in Austria, succumbed to lung cancer at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital on Monday night. He was 54.
A man of few words, Broomes is best remembered for his triumphant comeback at the 1992 Nationals when he returned after 12 years in the wilderness and captured the middleweight division.
Competing on behalf of Applegrove Gym, he became the newest sporting hero of Holder’s Hill, St James, when he defeated pre-contest favourite Walter Sobers in a memorable showdown.
Later that year, he placed third in the middleweight class at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC)?Championships in Jamaica and was selected for the World Championships in Austria, placing 13th among 52 of the best middleweights in the world.
Five-time Mr Barbados and 1992 Mr Caribbean king, Albert Scantlebury, who competed in Jamaica and Austria with Broomes, told the DAILY?NATION that bodybuilding had lost one of its most loyal servants.
“Carson was very much a team man. He was the type of person you would want to travel with and he knew how to conduct himself. He handled himself very well on the tours of Jamaica and Austria.
“He was more than just a good bodybuilder. He was a good man.
“Carson was a tough competitor on stage and took representing his country seriously. This is a big loss to the sport,” Scantlebury said.
Carson leaves to mourn brother and former top heavyweight Tyrone “Chip Ice”?Broomes and daughter Anne-Marie.
This is the second time that the bodybuilding fraternity has been plunged into mourning in just over two years.
In January 2009, former Barbados champion and the 1970 Mr Bridgetown winner, Arthur Standard, passed away at the age of 65.
