CHRISTOPHER Samuda did not deliver a routine welcome when the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) officially launched the country’s campaigns for the 2026 Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games and the Commonwealth Games on Thursday.

Instead, he issued an invitation.

“Welcome to history,” he declared, repeating the phrase like a rallying cry when athletes, officials and sporting stakeholders gathered at the Courtleigh Hotel in Kingston.

The history Samuda envisions begins on July 24, when Jamaica marches into Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, with its largest-ever delegation to the Centenary Central American and Caribbean Games. More than 200 athletes, supported by coaches, managers and officials, will compete across 27 sporting disciplines during the Games, which run through August 8.

For the JOA president, the numbers alone make this a landmark moment, as the team represents the country’s largest contingent ever assembled for a regional or international multi-sport event. That prompted the launch theme, “Full 2 Hundred”, a play on the Jamaican expression “full hundred”.

Jamaica won 19 medals — two gold, six silver, and 11 bronze — at the 2023 CAC Games in El Salvador.

“Our theme is fittingly ‘Full 2 Hundred.’ We will give them in the Dominican Republic more than full hundred,” Samuda said.

But the veteran sports administrator believes the significance extends well beyond the size of the team. He predicted Jamaica will produce first-ever medals in several disciplines, expanding the nation’s sporting footprint beyond its traditional athletics dominance.

Those performances, Samuda argued, would not only enhance Jamaica’s reputation but also strengthen its sporting legacy.

“History is created in momentary memorable performances, but remember, lest we forget, legacies are built in the DNA of the body of sport,” he said.

The sporting calendar leaves little time for celebration. Even before the CAC Games begin, Jamaica’s focus will also turn to the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, scheduled for July 23 to August 2.

Although this year’s Commonwealth programme has been scaled back, Samuda insisted Jamaica’s ambitions have not. The country aims to better its 2022 tally of 15 medals — six gold, seven silver, and two bronze.

Referencing the historical ties between Jamaica and Britain through the former British Empire, he argued that the nation has evolved far beyond its colonial sporting identity.

“We have changed our status from being a sprinting factory to becoming a sprinting empire,” he noted.

Yet even as Jamaica continues to dominate global sprinting, Samuda pointed out that the JOA’s mission is to elevate every sport to championship level.

“The JOA is laser-focused in giving other sports the royal standard,” he declared.

History, however, is not always written on the day competition ends. Samuda pointed to Jamaica’s women’s 4×100-metre relay team — Kemba Nelson, Natalliah Whyte, Remona Burchell and Elaine Thompson-Herah — whose bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham was upgraded to silver after the original champions were disqualified because of an anti-doping violation.

For Samuda, the upgrade reinforces the principle that clean athletes must eventually receive the recognition they deserve. He extended that argument to one of Jamaican athletics’ longest-running medal debates.

Referring to the women’s 100 metres at the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Samuda renewed calls for Jamaica’s Tania Lawrence to receive Olympic gold following the disqualifications of athletes who originally finished ahead of her because of doping offences.

“On whose head should the crown rest?” he asked.

The question underscored what Samuda described as one of the JOA’s core principles, which is to protect the rights of clean athletes.

In fact, he insisted that sporting achievement cannot be measured solely by prize money or financial reward but by the human effort invested over years of preparation.

“For us at the JOA, an athlete must never be denied the right to enthronement for the athlete’s ambition and aspirations are not denominated in money but in human capital. This right is, therefore, for us, non-negotiable and is fundamental to our charter of rights,” he stated.

Finally, Samuda challenged athletes to embrace both the occasion and the responsibility that comes with wearing the national colours.

“Welcome to what will be a centenary celebration of yard in the DR. Welcome as we relive the 2014 Glasgow Games. We will arrest Scotland Yard and take medals into our custody and the rest will be history,” he ended.