LIMA, Peru — Jamaica’s ability to transcend its economic challenges to become a mecca for track and field has been cited as a model which other countries can follow and benefit from.

President of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Luis Moreno, speaking at yesterday’s opening of the 15th International Olympic Committee (IOC) World Conference Sport for All in Lima, Peru, said Jamaica was a prime example of a country which was capitalising on the social benefits of sport.

The Colombian official noted that Jamaica was second in the world only to Bulgaria in the number of Olympic Games medals won in relation to the size of its population.

He pointed out the high involvement of volunteers in local sport — over 300 in the sport of athletics alone and said that sport not only mobilises and can be a source of social consensus but also personal and public pride.

Jamaica is the training ground of six-time Olympic Games gold medallist Usain Bolt, 100m world champion Yohan Blake, and was also chosen by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as a base for one of its High Performance Centres (HPC).

“It has many problems but we should all learn this lesson,” Moreno said.

The IOC World Conference Sport for All was opened by IOC president Jacques Rogge in the Peruvian capital yesterday. It ends on Saturday.

Over 500 delegates from 90 countries which are part of the Olympic movement are participating.

Jamaica Olympic Association president, Mike Fennell, will present today on Jamaica’s Sport for All experience.