‘I make no apologies’

PRESIDENT Christopher Samuda is firing back at detractors of his leadership of the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and the path he has taken since his journey at the helm started in 2017.

According to sources, who wished to remain anonymous, Samuda is an autocratic leader, who is currently spending JOA funds on sports that yield little return at the global level.

They also accused his team of executives of failing to properly manage teams to both the Olympic Games, which took place last year in Tokyo, Japan, and the Commonwealth Games, which took place earlier this year in Birmingham, England.

Samuda is unapologetic about his tenure so far, arguing that the JOA is strong in several aspects. He believes those who are against his leadership are in the minority, with the majority of the members supporting the course the JOA is on.

He cites the financial strength of the JOA, larger contingencies and more sports taking part in regional and international games and marketing as areas that have been transformed under his leadership.

“All in all, I think the five years went relatively well. Yes, there are things that we could have done better. Yes, there are other objectives that we hope to accomplish, but I think that the pathway has been established quite firmly and most importantly, our stakeholders understand the vision that we are articulating and are living in the mission with us,” Samuda said.

“You are always going to have people who, for some reasons known best to them, would wish to have things done differently but happily, the majority, if I may say 99 per cent of our stakeholders, feel that we are on the right path, as an executive, we are on the right path as an association and what you have to do is once you have the buy-in from your immediate stakeholders, then you continue with the business at hand and ensure that you realise the objectives and goals that you have set for yourself.

“So we don’t engage in negatives. We understand that they are times that we could do things better, but we think that the business of sports requires much more of a positive approach and we have been pursuing that modus operandi,” he said.

He dismissed the claims by his detractors that the JOA is spending money on “smaller sports” with very little to show for the investment.

“We have been investing and I make no apologies for that because we see the results and we invest because we know that there is talent. We know that our youth must have opportunities and therefore we feel that as an apex and governing body, we have a responsibility to invest in their talent and do whatever we can, to bring that talent to fruition,” Samuda said.

“That is something that has always occupied our strategic agenda, ensuring that our youth have a menu of options, ensuring that our sportsmen and sportswomen are able to have choices in sport. Not everybody is going to be a cricketer, a footballer or track and field person.

“It’s not a small return. Nonsense, absolute nonsense! CAC the most sports represented and the smaller sports were there, PanAm, Commonwealth Games, those are the facts and the so-called smaller sports have been doing exceptionally well, and as a matter of fact, per capita, they are doing very well,” he continued, while mentioning fencing, archery and judo as sports that have improved with the help of the JOA.

Samuda and his executives have the backing of several of these smaller associations, who argued that the assistance that the JOA has provided over the years has been tremendous as they seek to build the respective sport on the island.

President of the Jamaica Badminton Association (JBA), Sheldon Townsend said: “The JOA I will say has been significantly helpful in terms of all of our plans that we put forward, funding wise. They have always come forward in terms of assisting us as a small sport, with whatever our requests are from them.

“They help to fund a lot of the travelling of some of our athletes when called upon, funding towards just staging of tournaments, even giving of their facility, just to host, like, for example, press conferences.

“They are very helpful. I mean, they are one of the stakeholders that we can call on and expect to get some kind of results every time we call them. So their input has been significant, and not just now, but over the years,” Townsend said.

President of the Jamaica Volleyball Association, Jacqueline Cowan, and president of the Jamaica Basketball Association, Paulton Gordon, have also praised the JOA for assisting with the development of their sport, with the JOA also being significant to Jamaica qualifying for two Rugby World Cups.