JAMAICA Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the German city of Stuttgart for the hosting of a pre-Olympic training camp from July 10 to 21.

The signing, which took place at JAAA’s headquarters in Kingston on Saturday, involved the German Ambassador to Jamaica Jan Hendrik van Thiel, JAAA President Garth Gayle, and members of the Landessportverband, Baden-Wurttemberg training facility, which will be hosting the Jamaicans in Stuttgart.

Gayle told the Jamaica Observer that JAAA is excited about this partnership, and they are now looking forward to working with the officials in Stuttgart during this time.

“At one point we were unsure of how we would be able to provide a very critical and important aspect to the continuous preparations of our athletes before the start of the Olympic Games in Paris,” he said. “We were saved through discussions with one of our mutual partners and we are really happy that this partnership came through.”

Gayle said that on a recent visit to Stuttgart he was impressed with the facilities.

“The Germans, as you would know, are excellent in how they plan and implement technology and so forth,” he said. “So what we saw, having visited Stuttgart — the training and number of fields — I was quite impressed. Athletes can be training indoors, if they wish, and also the track is going to be newly laid in Stuttgart — and the Germans, through the city of Stuttgart, are making this possible.”

Gayle says that the partnership with Stuttgart benefits JAAA because it is usually costly to stage these camps overseas.

“We see this as a win-win at the end of the day because, naturally, we would have to spend on providing air travel to our athletes to Stuttgart and then to deliver them safely into the Olympic management team,” he said. “So, there is a cost to us but we believe that we have saved tremendously and [that] there is more to gain from this mutual arrangement, which will set the foundation for future such training camps.”

Van Thiel says they are happy with this partnership and they are looking forward to hosting the team.

“This Jamaican track and field team is very strong, stronger than ours, and we are really happy that they are coming to Germany and to Stuttgart,” Van Thiel said.

“I am very pleased with this partnership because, for me, cooperation in culture is one of the main things. Bringing people from Germany together with people from Jamaica, that is what an embassy is for. People-to-people contact is the essence of our relationship; it translates into culture, business, and everything.

“Jamaica is a world power in sports, and Germany is very good in parts of it. We are not so good in track and field but we are good in football, handball, hockey and, of course, we are world champions in basketball now.”