KINGSTON, Jamaica (JIS) — Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, Olivia Grange, says she is focused on bringing several major sporting and cultural events to Jamaica.

She made the comment yesterday at a welcome home reception for athletes, at the Norman Manley International Airport in Kingston, who participated in the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Australia.

“As part of our cultural and sport economic development strategy, we will be bidding to stage major international sport and cultural events, in Jamaica,” she said.

She mentioned that Jamaica hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1966, adding that “we hope, one day, to host the Games again”.

At the 2018 Commonwealth Games, held on the Gold Coast, Jamaica was represented in 15 sporting disciplines. The nation competed for the first time in Rugby, Lawn Bowls and Female Basketball, and won 27 medals, including seven gold, nine silver, and eleven bronze.

“Every medal that is won, each of us can claim it, and not just the athletes but the officials; every single Jamaican can say that’s my medal too,” Grange said as she commended the athletes, their management teams, and sporting associations.

Grange pointed out that the country was moving into a new era, with the young athletes, adding that the successes at the 2018 Commonwealth Games have demonstrated that “our future will be great”.

The Commonwealth Games are an international multisport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and has taken place every four years since then.

More than 4,400 athletes from 71 Commonwealth Games Associations participated in the various sporting events.