As the Tokyo Olympic and Paralympic games approach, the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) continues to deliver on its commitments to the nation’s sportsmen and sportswomen as they seek to qualify for the greatest global multi-sport events.
Amid the challenges of the novel coronavirus pandemic, which has caused many entities, understandably, to reassess and suspend their support for sport, the JOA, through it all, has met successfully its financial obligations.
JOA President Christopher Samuda, in giving an insight into the framework of the governing national body, stated that “our business model has operational safeguards that allow us to invest continuously in our members and their athletes with very minimal risk”.
“[Our] brand and resource management strategies have inspired confidence, resulting in increased corporate partnerships which we have been able to monetise,” Samuda said.
Jamaica’s top table tennis players Simon Tomlinson and Kane Watson left the island recently for a camp in Florida as the governing body responded to a request made by the new administration of the Jamaica Table Tennis Association.
Both are JOA Olympic Solidarity Scholarship recipients and are making a bid to qualify for the Tokyo Olympic Games, along with their aspiring colleagues in judo, karate, surfing, taekwondo, wrestling, fencing, rugby, diving, boxing and skateboarding, all of whom are being supported by the JOA in their Olympic quests.
Rugby is going for historic qualifications in both male and female sevens and the JOA has partnered with its member, the Jamaica Rugby Federation, in making the appointments with destiny.
Secretary General and CEO Ryan Foster in looking down the road to Tokyo and beyond.
“The JOA’s vision is well established in our ‘Pathway to Success’ policy document, which defines the athlete as the principal asset and acknowledges our commitment to invest and reinvest in the asset in securing today’s interest and tomorrow’s dividends,” he said.
The JOA last year pumped $40 million into athlete and team preparation, and now it is D-Day for Jamaica’s sporting ambassadors as they seek to carry and hoist the black, green and gold flag proudly in the city of Tokyo, which is not unfamiliar with athletic feats.
“For the JOA, the time is now for our nation’s athletes to deliver history-making performances and demonstrate, as we know they can, that investments in them are bankable,” stated Foster.
Investing for today and the future is always a prudent approach to the business of sport.
When asked what accounts for and is driving the JOA’s investment strategy for the Games, Samuda responded: “Both hands are safe, secure and jammock solid on the wheel and it’s power steering with all cylinders firing.”
Jamaica will yet again, in a few months, have an opportunity at the XXXII Olympiad to demonstrate on the world stage its athletic pedigree and power, which have given rise over the years to admiration and applause in so many quarters.
