SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador — Despite the reduction in medals won at the just-concluded Central America and Caribbean (CAC) Games, Jamaica’s chef de mission Paulton Gordon says he is still pleased with the team’s performance at the championships.

The Jamaicans finished the championships with 19 medals, which included two gold, six silver and 11 bronze. This is eight medals fewer than they would have won at the last championships, which was held in Colombia.

“Generally we are quite happy because we got 19 medals on this occasion but, as you are aware, there are a lot of new disciplines…so what we like is the spread of medals that we have gotten this time around,” said Gordon.

“We got medals in judo, tennis and also got some unusual medals in javelin and the hammer throw events, and so from that standpoint we are pretty comfortable in terms of how we finished the championships,” he said.

Gordon, who is president of the Jamaica Basketball Association, explained that the Jamaicans faced a few hiccups before and during the championships but nevertheless fought their way through — to the ultimate delight of the Jamaica Olympic Association.

He also said the CAC Games provided a great platform for Jamaican athletes to test their skills against some of the region’s best competitors, ahead of the Pan Am Games this year and Olympic Games next year.

“At the start of the championships we had some problems with logistics and it took some time for the athletes to settle but once they got going we could see that they were performing at a level that we were expecting. What we wanted was to use this CAC Games [to] benchmark ourselves against our regional counterparts — especially for the lesser known sports — and it [CAC Games] gave us that opportunity,” he said.

“As you know, there were a lot of new sports that we introduced this year because we had weightlifting, we had karate, chess, and netball. From a Jamaica standpoint and those athletes who are now competing at that level, it is the first time that they were competing at the regional level so there has to be a period of settling down, and as such it introduced them to what is required to attain greatness,” Gordon said.

“This is the baseline level, and you know you have the Pan Am and Olympic Games and so you have to benchmark yourself against your regional counterparts before you know where you ought to be,” he added.

The Jamaicans won a gold medal in netball, which was played at the championships for the first time. They also won a historic silver medal in the judo, as well bronze medals in tennis and weightlifting, for the first time.

Gordon pointed out that this year’s CAC Games was held during the time of the National Championships (Trials) in Jamaica, therefore a lot of the country’s top athletes chose not to participate at the event in El Salvador.

“There were some conflicts in terms of scheduling in this case so some of the athletes, especially in track and field, who wanted to be here are currently at Trials in Jamaica, so we are hoping that all of that can be worked out prior to the next event.

“However, El Salvador took up the challenge — because it should have been hosted by Panama — and in my mind, they did a fairly good job,” Gordon ended.