ROSE HALL, St James — Thomas Bach, president of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), says next year’s Olympic Games in Paris will be special, not just for the sports competitions.

Bach, who completed a three-day visit to Jamaica on Sunday, was addressing Saturday’s ceremony hosted by the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) at the Montego Bay Convention Centre in Rose Hall where about 13 sporting bodies were also presented.

A number of Jamaican Olympic representatives were in attendance including multiple medallist Donald Quarrie, Dione Hemmings-McCatty, Grace Jackson, Bertland Cameron, and Michael Frater as well as dozens of current athletes.

“I can promise you Paris will be special, for the ones who will make it, it will be an exciting Olympic Games, it will be the first Olympic Games after the pandemic,” the IOC president said.

Bach, who was visiting Jamaica for the first time, defended the staging of the 2020 Games held in Tokyo in 2021.

“It was important, it was extremely important that we had this Olympic Games during the pandemic, so we would not be forgotten as the Olympic movement and the world attention and the world awareness.”

With the qualification for the various sporting disciplines either having started or set to start soon, Bach said: “We are sharing the same values and we are sharing the same ambitions and these ambitions are getting very close, we will have very soon in the month of October, the Pan Am Games in Santiago, Chile.

“And these Pan Am Games will be an important qualifier for the ultimate goal for all of us the Olympic Games in Paris 2024 and there I wish all the Jamaican athletes who are longing to be there, who want to qualify, I wish you all, all the very best.”

The Olympic Games, he said, was more than just sports.

“We are looking forward to not just the Olympics Games but to this great festival of humanity, where we want to celebrate with the entire world, with all the fans, with all your families and friends. Where we want to celebrate humanity, where we want to celebrate with only one human race in our world. Where we want to celebrate the new Olympic motto. Yes, where we want to get faster, where we want to aim higher, where we want to become stronger and all of this together, together in the athletes’ community and together with all of the 206 National Olympic Committees of this world,” he stated.

He said he hopes his visit to Jamaica will serve as a catalyst for athletes.

“I wish you all good luck. It will be hard work with all the qualifications and the training but if we, through our visit, can motivate you a little bit [by] telling you a little bit more about Paris so that you’re getting up every morning being encouraged to go to training then this trip will be worthwhile,” he said.