#Carifta2022 | Games return good for track and field’s future – Coe
Published:Sunday | April 17, 2022 | 12:10 AMDaniel Wheeler - Staff Reporter
THE RETURN of the Carifta Games has been particularly celebrated and championed by World Athletics president Lord Sebastian Coe, who says that the competition is critical to the sport’s future by way of discovering the next star.
Coe arrived in the island on Friday evening to attend the games which started yesterday after a two-year absence caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Jamaica were awarded hosting duties last November.
Coe said that it is an event that he has always earmarked on his calendar, not just because of the quality of the performances, but also because of the region’s importance to the future of athletics.
“I get the question all the time ‘what’s going to happen to the sport now that we don’t have Usain [Bolt]’ and I will say, your answer, you will find at the Carifta Games. And if you look at the talent that has come through the Carifta Games, including Usain but going back many years, it is a hotbed of talent and I’m delighted to be here,” Coe said.
PASSIONATE CROWD
“COVID has got in the way but I’m delighted that it is in Jamaica and that we are able to celebrate the games in front of what I know will be a pretty noisy, passionate crowd.”
The 2022 edition of the Carifta Games is the first regional meet that the Caribbean has had since the pandemic, and the first major regional athletic meet that Jamaica has hosted since the pandemic.
Citing performances from last year’s Tokyo Olympics, as well as the World Under-20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, Coe said that the region’s continued output of medal-winning performances has strengthened his faith in the health of the sport, and outlined why having Carifta is vital.
“It tells me that this is the hot bed of athletics. If you look at the medals from the North American, Central American and Caribbean (NACAC) region, this is the area that has been consistently delivering. If you want to understand the health and well-being of the sport, don’t look at the senior athletes, look at what’s going on with the junior athletes as well,” Coe said.
“I am more optimistic now about the sport than I have been for the last 10 years because there is a depth of talent that is coming through not just on the track, it’s happening in the field events and it’s happening particularly in this region in our technical events.”
Sport Minister Olivia Grange said that Coe’s visit is timely, with major meets now starting to return to the island.
“All of us were waiting to exhale after COVID, and so everything is happening at the right time. Lord Sebastian Coe’s (visit) means a lot to the region and we are quite excited. He loves the region and he loves our athletes,” Grange said.