Two years after obtaining independence, the Broken Trident appeared for the first time at the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City, Mexico.
That historic team comprised nine athletes in five disciplines.
But from the late 1950s, Barbadians had been competing on the world stage as members of the West Indies Federation after it was formed back in 1958.
The West Indian Olympic Association was founded with the establishment of the Federation, and one year later, five Barbadians were among the West Indies contingent at the Pan American Games in Chicago.
Fred Marville was the lone competitor in weightlifting, while John Burke, Reds Packer, Albert Weatherhead and Geoffrey Foster were part of the water polo unit.
Then in 1960, James “Jim” Wedderburn and Grantley Sobers were among 13 competitors in five sports from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados at the Summer Games in Rome, Italy.
They competed under the Antilles banner, flying the flag of the Federation.
Wedderburn created history when he became the first Barbadian to win an Olympic medal – bronze – with the 4×400 metres relay team.
The three other members – George Kerr, Malcolm Spence and Keith Gardner were Jamaicans.
The Barbados Olympic Association (BOA), the body which oversees the development of Olympic sport on the island was yet to be conceptualized.
With the breakup of the Federation in 1962, the seeds were sown for the individual territories to have their own National Olympic Committee.
It is reported that the late Louis Lynch, former head of the Modern High School and former president of the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), met with then AAA vice-president Michael Simmons over lunch at a Broad Street restaurant and the idea of BOA was born.
The pair named a Steering Committee of Jack Knight, Ken Ince, Delbert Bannister and Randolph Field, then summoned a meeting with representatives of each federation.
Lynch was naturally elected the first president. Simmons was the first secretary general, and along with the members of the Steering Committee, began drafting the constitution.
This was submitted to the International Olympic Committee and Barbados was officially recognized that same year.
Team Barbados competed at the Central American and Caribbean Games in Jamaica in 1962 in several disciplines. With team sports like water polo and hockey, the contingent numbered almost 60 athletes who won medals in water polo, weightlifting, boxing and athletics.
Barbados didn’t compete at the 1964 Games in Tokyo, Japan, but Lynch was head of the first team which appeared in Mexico City four years later.
On his death in 1969, Simmons became president. He was succeeded by Austin Sealy in 1982 and the top post was passed to current president Steve Stoute in 1996.
Barbados also attended the 1972 and 1976 Olympic Games, but joined the western world in the 1980 boycott of the Moscow Games. They have attended each of the Games since that time.
Unlike some of our Caribbean neighbours who mark success after success at the Olympic Games, Barbados have had sporadic moments of glory.
It was more than 20 years after Wedderburn set the standard before Elvis Forde reached the semis of the men’s 400 metres and combined with David Peltier, Richard Louis and Clyde Edwards to place sixth in the final of the 4×400 metres relay.
There was another break of 12 years before swimmer Leah Martindale became the first black women to reach the final of the women’s 50-metre freestyle final, finishing fifth overall.
But only four years later in Sydney, Australia, Obadele Thompson wrote his name on history’s page when he became the first Barbadian to win an individual medal, bronze in the men’s 100 metres.
Twelve years on, Barbadians are still waiting for the next great Olympic moment by a local athlete.
Today, the Barbados Olympic Association is marking 50 years.
It has 32 member federations and has expanded to suit the times, operating from their own offices on the compound of the Garfield Sobers Sports Complex. They offer technical and administrative support to the various national federations as well as facilitate the travel of Barbados teams to major games like the Commonwealth, Pan American and the Central American and Caribbean Games.
