DESPITE the unfavourable perception of the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO) in the eyes of some athletes and the wider public, Sports Minister Olivia “Babsy” Grange’ says they’ve been successfully making strides in enhancing its reputation.

Grange and the Jamaican Government hosted the third World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Forum for Caribbean Ministers of Sport at the Jamaica Conference Centre where WADA President Witold Banka was in attendance.

JADCO has received criticism over the years due to high-profile cases regarding Jamaican athletes including Andre Russell, Asafa Powell, Sherone Simpson, Kaliese Spencer, Riker Hylton and, most recently, John Campbell.

Also, JADCO came under heavy fire in 2022 when Jamaica’s quartet of Serena Cole, Tina Clayton, Brianna Lyston and Tia Clayton broke the world U-20 4x100m record at the Carifta Games but it wasn’t ratified by World Athletics because all four members were not drug-tested at the completion of the race.

However, Grange told the Jamaica Observer that significant progress has been made in improving JADCO’s image.

“The relationship with JADCO and the athletes [has] improved. In fact, with the guidance of WADA, we ensured to engage them so they don’t see us as the police, but that we’re there for them. We have an excellent public education programme, we have public education workshops and meeting with federations but at the same time, the athletes have to be at the table and I want to encourage them to engage with JADCO,” she said.

“We start at a young age with public education, we provide tablets to schools with the JADCO programmes on the tablets and laptops so we are certainly starting young as well to ensure in the future, they have a better understanding what JADCO is about [and] the agency is there for them and to ensure there is clean sport,” Grange added.

Banka also told the Observer that he’ll be making recommendations to the WADA board following recent discussions with Jamaican athletes.

“I always want to meet the athletes and I had a very nice meeting with Jamaican athletes at the National Stadium. Most of them were from track and field, and we exchanged views. We asked them questions about how they perceive the anti-doping system, and I have to tell you that I received very tough questions about the system; what we can change but very fair. This is how we operate now, how we work with the athletes; we are listening,” said Banka.

Banka, though, was full of praise for JADCO, hailing them as one of the best anti-doping agencies globally.

“I really like JADCO’s approach to education; they realise how important it is to have a strong education programme in place. Education is the future of anti-doping. We don’t only want to catch and punish, but it’s very important to prevent and support; this is the essence of education. I saw educational actions and programmes organised by JADCO and it’s something very important for us,” he said.

Banka also pledged US$225,000 ($35 million) to JADCO and other anti-doping agencies in the Caribbean which is a 50 per cent increase in WADA’s financial contribution to the Caribbean.

He says the role of Minister Grange and Jamaica will be crucial in the fight against doping.

“It’s very important that we have strong collaboration with Jamaica authorities, especially Minister Grange, which is our WADA foundation board member. Under her leadership in the Caribbean region, it really looks encouraging; the commitment from the ministers, the results and outcomes of the forum were very positive,” said Banka.

The two-day forum ended on Wednesday with sports ministers and leaders from Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Lucia all in attendance.

They also signed the “Kingston Declaration” which commits to holding the forum on an annual basis in different Caribbean nations, the need to continue to strengthen anti-doping programmes and for all Governments to support and uphold the Code and the UNESCO International Convention against Doping in Sport.