JOA promises continued funding for associations
Published:Thursday | April 16, 2020 | 12:19 AMRobert Bailey/Gleaner Writer
Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda says his association will continue to provide funding to the various national federations through the Olympic Solidarity Programme, despite economic constraints because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach said recently that his association was facing several hundred million dollars of added costs because of the postponement of this year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Estimates in Japan put the overall cost of the postponement at US$2 billion to US$6 billion (over J$275 billion to over J$826 billion). Except for the IOC portion, all added costs will be borne by the Japanese side, according to an agreement signed in 2013 when Tokyo was awarded the Olympics.
Samuda told The Gleaner yesterday that his administration has not received any indication from the IOC that this funding will be reduced, therefore, the JOA is committed to contributing the $170 million to assist the national associations, like last year.
“The Olympic solidarity funding, as you perhaps would know that each NOC (National Olympic Committee) gets grants under that funding, has not been cut because we have not received any advice at all of it being cut,” he said.
“They have always fulfilled their arrangements, always fulfilled their obligations, and we don’t expect that to change at all.”
But Samuda was unable to provide the figure that the JOA received from the IOC each year as part of the solidarity programme.
He said that along with the funding given by the IOC, the JOA also has a number of sponsorship deals which will be used to provide funding to the local associations.