2 weeks ago
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President of the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA), Garth Gayle, has expressed heartfelt gratitude to World Athletics President Lord Sebastian Coe after the global governing body donated US$100,000 (approximately $16 million) to assist members of Jamaica’s track and field community affected by Hurricane Melissa.
The donation was announced by Coe during a media briefing at the JAAA’s office in Kingston yesterday. Gayle said Coe’s visit to the island has lifted the spirits of the local athletics fraternity during a difficult period.
“Coe’s arrival in Jamaica over the past few days has certainly lifted the spirits of the local track and field community, and therefore we are very grateful for the support that the world governing body for athletics has extended to Jamaica,” Gayle said.
He noted that Coe’s presence underscores Jamaica’s stature in global athletics and reflects the strong working relationship between the JAAA and World Athletics.
“His presence is very significant because Jamaica has long been a global standard-bearer in track and field, and this visit reflects the strength of our working relationship and the mutual respect that exists globally for Jamaica’s athletics,” he noted.
“During his time here, Lord Coe engaged with our executive, the Government and key stakeholders, and yesterday (Tuesday) he would have visited two schools. We would have added more, and also intended to visit the western end of the island, but due to matters that we could not have overcome, we had to take a break from that. But he is going to be back, and we will continue that leg,” Gayle said.
The JAAA boss added that the association will be meeting with stakeholders, including athletes and coaches, to determine how best to allocate the donated funds.
“Lord Coe, from the get-go, made it very clear that he knows that the protocols are very important, but he also wanted to engage not only the various stakeholders, but the athletes as well. We are focused on sports development, governance and sports integrity as we manage sport in Jamaica,” Gayle said.
Coe also announced plans for a charity event aimed at further supporting hurricane relief efforts. Following a meeting with Kingston Mayor Andrew Swaby on Tuesday, the two agreed to stage a 5K charity run in April, with Coe serving as patron. Proceeds from the event will go towards assisting those affected by Hurricane Melissa.
During his visit, Coe, who is now in his 10th year as World Athletics president, also met with Prime Minister Dr Andrew Holness, Opposition Leader Mark Golding, and several stakeholder groups. He additionally visited Jamaica College and Excelsior High School in Kingston.
Meanwhile, Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange said the Government’s post-hurricane impact survey revealed that mental resilience among athletes must be prioritised.
“Coming out of Hurricane Melissa, we did an impact survey on sports and what we found is that mental resilience is a priority, so more athletes need to get on board in terms of building and supporting their mental resilience,” said Grange.
“There is emotional support and there is the athletes’ insurance plan, and one of the areas that we surely responded to was mental support.”
She pointed out that athletes in western Jamaica were particularly affected and that infrastructure support is also being assessed.
“We know that Hurricane Melissa impacted particular athletes in the west. Of course, there are infrastructure issues, and we have been doing our survey in relation to infrastructure development, and we will be announcing in short order what the Government will do in terms of building back and providing additional infrastructure support in the west,” the minister stated.
Grange has also urged sporting bodies to improve disaster preparedness. “Coming out of this survey, we want to encourage the federations to have a disaster plan in place, because we have over 40 federations and we found that none of them has ever given a thought as to how they would respond to a disaster if that should happen; and so I am encouraging our federations to start looking at a disaster plan in their development programme,” she said.
Robert Bailey
English (US) ·