PRESIDENT Garth Gayle says the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) will continue to send teams to the Carifta Games annually.

Garth’s comments follow public scrutiny about whether it is a waste of resources for Jamaica to compete at the Games, given how it dominates the medal table on a yearly basis.

Jamaica finished top of the medal table at the 50th edition last week, with a total of 78 medals consisting of 40 gold, 22 silver, and 16 bronze. The next best team was host The Bahamas with 46 (10 gold, 13 silver, 23 bronze). Trinidad and Tobago finished third with 31 medals (nine gold, 10 silver, and 12 bronze). This means Jamaica has now topped the medal table for 37 consecutive years.

Added criticism followed controversial officiating which saw a number of Jamaican athletes disqualified and losing medals. This brought the equipment used and the competence of the officials at the meet into question.

But Gayle says participation is important to Jamaica as it not only benefits young local athletes but also the wider Caribbean’s development.

“The JAAA does not have non-participation of Carifta on our agenda,” Gayle told the Jamaica Observer. “We will continue to participate in a regional event that helps our junior athletes to establish themselves in the track and field world so there’s no way we would be considering that.”

Gayle also addressed the recent controversies, saying they are not too serious to be overcome.

“There are issues and concerns but, like any family, they are worked out,” he said. “The competitive nature of Carifta has risen and has grown tremendously. That augurs well for our continued participation.”

Gayle says many of the Caribbean’s Olympic medallists throughout the years have competed at the Carifta Games as junior athletes, and described the meet as a “nursery”.

“We have seen many of the Caribbean athletes from [The] Bahamas, Trinidad, Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Kitts and Nevis, Antigua, Barbados, and I could name so many others whose junior athletes would have done exceptionally well and have gone on to become world-renowned athletes — Jamaica equally,” he said. “We are fortunate to have put together a team that is very competitive but it’s not a walk in the park; our athletes have to go there and perform. Because we amassed the most medals does not in any way say the competition is weak. The competition is very fierce, and this is good for our junior athletes.”

Gayle also cited the growing number of students from across the region now attending Jamaican high schools to further their athletic careers as proof of the improvement in competition at the Carifta Games.

Ephraim Serrette is a former Trinidad and Tobago athlete and former National Association of Athletics Administrations of Trinidad and Tobago president who is now serving as an advisor to that country’s Sport Minister Shamfa Cudjoe. He agrees with Gayle, saying that Jamaica no longer participating at Carifta would affect all other competing nations.

“The Carifta Games is the oldest games of its nature held in any region in the world,” he told the Observer. “Over the years the medal tally for Jamaica has been decreasing because of other people improving and getting on the medal table. It’s even affecting the other bigger countries like Trinidad and Tobago.”

While Jamaica’s medal tally dipped this year, a comparison of the top two on the medal table each year since 2013 questions whether the gap has really closed.

Serrette is also concerned about the motivation to compete, as other Caribbean nations test how far their programmes have come by competing against Jamaica, which is viewed as the standard-bearer in the region.

“Taking Jamaica out of the Games would water down the competition,” he said. “Jamaica is the yardstick for everybody for where everybody wants to get to, so for Jamaica to not continue participating? I would never support that.”

What Serrette wants for the Games, however, is to see changes to its structure. He recalls when the Carifta Games featured not just athletics, but other sporting disciplines, and wants a return to this. He would also like to see the yearly staging moved closer to the summer and closer to the World Under 20 Championships. Serrette would also like to see other nations such as Cuba compete. This, he said, would make it the CANOC (Caribbean Association of National Olympic Committees) Games.

“This would capture all the Caribbean countries,” he said. “As such, it could be a Caribbean Junior Games. Gone are the Caribbean Senior Games. It maybe [that one] has to look into that kind of thing with NACAC [North American, Central American, and Caribbean Athletics Association] as the athletic body seeing about the athletics part, and the other regional bodies with responsibilities for other sports such as swimming or chess, as it were.”

Grenada will host the Carifta Games next year after receiving 16 votes to Trinidad and Tobago’s four.

The following table shows Jamaica’s medal count in comparison to second place each year since 2013.

2023

1st Jamaica – 78

2nd The Bahamas – 46

Difference: 32

2022

1st Jamaica – 92

2nd The Bahamas – 17

Difference: 75

2019

1st Jamaica – 85

2nd The Bahamas – 26

Difference: 59

2018

1st Jamaica – 82

2nd The Bahamas – 35

Difference: 47

2017

1st Jamaica – 86

2nd Trinidad and Tobago – 22

Difference: 64

2016

1st Jamaica – 86

2nd The Bahamas – 34

Difference: 52

2015

1st Jamaica – 86

2nd The Bahamas – 31

Difference: 55

2014

1st Jamaica – 89

2nd Trinidad and Tobago – 25

Difference: 64

2013

1st Jamaica – 69

2nd The Bahamas – 31

Difference: 38

*No games were held in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID-19.