Why Jamaica is so damn good

By Delano Franklyn, Guest Columnist

The historic 12-medal haul by our athletes at the recently concluded Olympic Games has set tongues wagging about when exactly Jamaica began pulling in multiple medals at these Games. Some have argued that the medal rush began in 2008.

When Arthur Wint and Herb McKenley brought home medals for the first time in 1948, they opened the doors for others to follow. That included the heroic performance of our athletes in 2008. Now Jamaica is the country that is the pride and joy of the athletic world.

To put the August 2012 medal count into perspective, it is important for us to be aware of the medal count over the years. Table 1 below so indicates.

TABLE 1

Although Jamaica won five medals in 1952, and did well thereafter, we were not able to come near that feat again until 1992, some 40 years later, when we won four medals. Since 1992, there has been a steady increase in medal count, except for 2004, when we went down to six, after the memorable feat of nine medals in 2000.

The question can, therefore, be asked, what are the factors which have influenced this development since 2002? I wish to highlight four such possible factors.

G.C. FOSTER

The first, I believe, is the visionary decision taken in 1977 to invite the Cuban government to construct the G.C. Foster College of Physical Education and Sport.

Many will recall that Cuba was - and still is - a veritable sporting powerhouse, with the likes of Teófilo Stevenson in boxing, and the long-striding Alberto Juantorena on the track. These Cuban athletes were home-grown and home-trained, having been exposed to the technical craft of the coaches who were graduating from institutions in Cuba similar to what later became the G.C. Foster College in Jamaica.

Since its inception, G.C. Foster has produced coaches of all types, and they are now spread far and wide across Jamaica. They are able to spot talent from early and help young aspiring athletes come to the fore.

Many of these coaches continue to work, despite very limited resources. Yet, they continue to do what they do best because of the exposure they received at G.C. Foster. It is not surprising that some of those persons who are seeking to take credit for what is happening today were in the forefront of the campaign against the establishment of G.C. Foster in 1980.

FUNDS DEDICATED TO SPORT

The second reason was the decision taken in 1995 by the Government to have a steady stream of funds dedicated to sport.

In 1995, the Sports Development Foundation (SDF) was established. The SDF was created to receive government revenue under the terms of a licence granted, in the first instance, to the Jamaica Lottery Company and, thereafter, to Supreme Ventures Limited.

It was decided under the terms of the licence that agreed amounts paid over by Supreme Ventures would be listed as a tax and paid over weekly to the commissioner of Inland Revenue.

The sum collected is now administered by the Culture, Health, Arts, Sport, and Education (CHASE) Fund, which was created in 2002. Since then, as a result of the collaboration between CHASE and the SDF, nearly $2 billion has been directly contributed to sport.

Since 1995, the Sports Development Foundation has constructed some 347 multi-purpose courts, constructed or contributed to the construction of 132 playing fields, and the seating and lighting of several complexes. The foundation also established an Athletes' Welfare Fund to assist active and retired sports persons.

The Welfare Fund assists sportspersons who have represented Jamaica with medical expenses, wheelchairs, housing modification, training equipment, accommodation, and living expenses during preparation for national representation, competition fees and some form of school-related grants.

HOME-BASED ATHLETES

The third reason is that we are training a lot more of our athletes at home after they leave high school.

We have been able to do so because, in recent times, we have developed home-grown track and field clubs, marshalled and superintended by some of the best coaches in the world.

Prior to the establishment of these local clubs, which are attached to some of our finest tertiary institutions, athletes who did well would continue their higher education and track and field involvement by pursuing scholarships in the USA.

The absorption of the best of Jamaica's track and field talent into the US system was not by chance. It happened because of two main reasons. In the first instance, the US is Jamaica's largest trading partner, and by necessity, their economics are heavily intertwined.

The other reason is that there is a large Jamaican diaspora in the US. It was, and is, therefore, quite easy for our track and field talent to seek professional, as well as sport development in the US.

The programme of scholarships to the USA continues, and should not be curtailed, because it has helped many athletes in the past. While this is extremely positive, the fact is that we have lost many of our gifted athletes because of their inability to cope with conditions elsewhere.

The majority of our current crop of athletes are spared this challenge because we have now fully Jamaicanised talent and are able to give the guidance required based on our cultural norms, among other stimuli.

PERFORMANCE-ENHANCING DRUGS

The fourth reason is that the international drug-testing requirements are far more rigorous than in the past. There are many among us who feel that outstanding former athletes such as Merlene Ottey, Grace Jackson, and Juliet Cuthbert were denied gold medals largely because of the irregular condition of some of their competitors.

Despite bans and random testing which were carried out by national and international sport organisations, a uniform programme for the testing of athletes was not agreed upon until 1999, when the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was established.

Since then, there has been a major assault by the authorities on the use of performance-enhancing drugs.

Jamaica, for its part, despite the utterings of Carl Lewis and Dick Pound, has a very strong and proactive anti-doping stance.

This manifested in the fact that on February 10, 2004, the country signed the Copenhagen Declaration on Anti-Doping in Sport. Later, on May 16, 2005, Jamaica adopted a Policy against Doping in Sport. In the same year, the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) was formed to carry out the country's anti-doping programme, in accordance with the dictates of WADA's code.

On July 31, 2008, the country adopted the Anti-Doping in Sport Act, giving JADCO the right to, among other things, promote a drug-free environment for sport and provide athletes and athlete support personnel with protection of their right to participate in drug-free sport, and thus promote health, fairness and equality for all participants in sports.

No other country of Jamaica's size, with a population of less than three million, has been as successful in the last 10 years as Jamaica at the Olympic Games. In fact, the performances of our athletes in the last two Olympics have made Jamaica the sprint capital of the world, an achievement that formerly belonged to the USA.

This is an amazing feat when one considers that the US has a population of more than 300 million and incomparable financial and human resources that are used to facilitate its track and field programme.

Delano Franklyn is an attorney-at-law, sport enthusiast and adviser in the Office of the Prime Minister. Email feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com and delanofranklyn@gmail.com.