The Barbados Olympic Association Inc. (BOA) is saddened to learn of Sonia O’Neal’s passing. She was a former president of the Barbados Aquatic Sports Association (BASA) and the recipient of the BOA’s Women in Sport Commission’s Esther Maynard Icon Award in 2022.
Sonia was one of Barbados’ well-known swimming administrators with more than three decades of experience in the field. She first joined the Board of the BASA in 1996 as the Council Representative for the Alpha Sharks Swim Club. Later, she was elected Second Vice President of the BASA, serving from 1998 to 2000, while also holding the position of president of the Alpha Sharks Swim Club. In 2000, Sonia was elected as president of the BASA, a role she fulfilled until 2012. During this time, she initiated several development projects, including a significant upgrade of the Aquatic Centre.
Sonia made significant contributions to the sport of swimming not only in Barbados. She served as the Treasurer of the Central American and Caribbean Swimming Federation twice, from 2015 to 2019 and again from 2020 to 2023. She was a member of FINA, now World Aquatics’ Technical Swimming Committee, from 2018 to 2022 and Vice Chair of the PanAm Aquatics Technical Swimming Committee from 2020 to 2023. In addition, she was a FINA World Cup Video Review Referee in Abu Dhabi in 2021 and a FINA Technical Official at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The Board of the BOA pays tribute to Sonia O’Neal for her exceptional contributions to aquatics at the local, regional, and international levels. We extend our deepest condolences to her sons Christopher and Phillip, as well as to the members of the BASA.