FOLLOWING their five-year, $75-million- agreement, president of Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) Christopher Samuda, and executive chairman of Supreme Ventures Limited (SVL) Gary Peart say they want the country to be well represented across multiple sports at this summer’s Olympic Games in Paris.

SVL, a sponsor of JOA since 2021, extended their multimillion-dollar investment for another five years. The announcement was made at JOA’s headquarters on Friday.

The sponsorship will be used for several initiatives but, importantly, for the preparation of international competitions including the Paris Games, set for July 26 to August 11.

Only Jamaica’s participation in athletics is confirmed for this Olympics but Peart told the
Jamaica Observer he’s optimistic the island will be competitive in other sporting disciplines.

“The vision that we signed on for was, it’s not only track and field but basically seeing Jamaica represented in a variety of sporting disciplines. Obviously if they win I’d be great, but what we want out of it is to give every Jamaican sportsperson across every sporting discipline the opportunity to be able to qualify and compete. And if they qualify and compete, they win; but if they don’t, we would have afforded them a journey which is a building block because you have Los Angeles [Olympic Games] in 2028. So once they’re able to qualify, we’re happy,” said Peart.

Around 10 sporting disciplines still have the chance to qualify for the Games, and Samuda says the association is fully supportive as they look to broaden their scope.

“My expectations are always great. I wouldn’t be in a position now to say [which sports Jamaica will have representation for] because there are still qualifying tournaments, so about March/early April or so I’d be in a better position to say which sports will be qualifying — but if you look at the history, we have done exceptionally well in terms of the number of sports at the Olympic stage in terms of the diversity of the sports. This is a thrust we will continue to do because not everybody can run and play football but there are talents in other sports that we want to bring to fruition in the interest of our athletes,” he told the
Observer.

Regardless of the results in Paris, Samuda says the continued partnership with SVL will further strengthen sports on the island.

“It’s a partnership of confidence; it’s a partnership that allows our athletes, coaches and administrators to grow. And what this partnership is signalling is that sport is no longer a business; sport is now a multiplex commercial enterprise and needs intensive capital — and this is just a part of intensive capitalisation of sport. What we are going to do is to ensure that not only Supreme Ventures continues to support, but there’s going to be a paradigm shift because if we are to build a sporting industry there needs to be an infrastructure that lends to that,” he said.

Peart credited the JOA, saying the decision to renew their sponsorship was easy as they look to cement their commitment to Jamaica’s athletes.

“They[(JOA] sold us on a vision, they updated along the way in terms of what the results have been, and it’s been an exceptional journey. We took the decision 18 months ago that we’d renew, it was just a matter of how the renewal would be. We sponsor several initiatives in our business on an annual basis and JOA ranks in the top one or two in terms of what the whole process is, the returns, etc. Ultimately, this money helps not just the Olympic movement but athletes and their ability to shine on the international stage, and hopefully get gold when they participate. We at SVL, we’re just happy to assist with that,” Peart said.

SVL will also be providing Jamaican supporters with the opportunity to watch the games in France’s capital through several promotions which will be announced in the coming weeks.

— Daniel Blake