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• Jamaica Olympic Association endorses Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track series debut in Kingston

  The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has thrown its full support behind the highly anticipated Grand Slam Track series, a pioneering track and field competition created by American Olympic icon Michael Johnson. Kingston’s National Stadium will host the inaugural event from April 4-6, 2025, marking a historic occasion as Jamaica kicks off a global series that merges elite competition with cultural celebration in select cities worldwide.

  In endorsing the Grand Slam Track initiative, JOA President Christopher Samuda highlighted the series’ alignment with the evolving nature of sports as both a business and a cultural experience. “The economy of sport is continually diversifying its product offerings,” Samuda said. “This move merits support, for yesterday’s novelty in sport is becoming today’s norm of business innovation in a global enterprise where changing the game has become a pre-requisite of staying in the game and winning the grand slam.”

  The Grand Slam Track series promises substantial financial rewards for competitors, a prospect that appeals to both athletes and sports financiers. JOA Secretary General/CEO Ryan Foster outlined the benefits, emphasizing that Grand Slam Track supports the JOA’s vision for sustainable athletic growth. “The grand slam track will not only pay dividends for aspirations invested initially in sweat equity and maturing in bonus payments,” Foster said, “which is a qualitative strategy of the JOA, but, more importantly, the meets will provide self-actualising opportunities for athletes and value for money for fans.”

  Beyond the prize money, the JOA sees Grand Slam Track as a platform for continuous, high-level competition, helping athletes prepare for the Olympics by fostering ongoing development through regular, intense matchups. “On the other side of the minted coin of sport, top-ranking athletes will be able to constantly measure performance against character as they compete continually against each other,” Foster explained, adding that it is “in conditioning themselves for the premier event, the Olympic Games,” that athletes will truly benefit from the series.

  Drawing inspiration from other global sports formats like tennis and Formula One, Grand Slam Track aims to create an experience that celebrates the culture of each host city. This aspect particularly resonates with the JOA’s vision of sports as a cultural and economic driver. “The concept is allied to the advocacy of the JOA,” Samuda noted, “as we treat sporting events as experiences in physical culture, fan engagement, cuisine, music, entertainment, and tourism—all of which are drivers in creating a viable sports industry.”

  The JOA’s backing of Grand Slam Track aligns with its commitment to sports innovation, a mission that led the association to launch the “Olympic Destiny” series in 2021. This JOA initiative was designed to prepare Jamaican athletes for the Tokyo Olympics amid the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Olympic Destiny series offered incentives for athletes and fostered historic performances, including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce’s national record-setting 10.63s sprint in the 100m. That experience, Samuda pointed out, was “a first in the history of the sport,” underscoring the JOA’s commitment to driving progress and championing local talent on a global stage.

  With the JOA’s endorsement, Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track is poised to deliver a unique blend of high-stakes competition and cultural celebration, solidifying Jamaica’s position as a host for world-class athletic events and creating a new chapter in track and field’s evolution.

   

   

   

   

   

   

   

• Samuda empathizes with Comm Games Federation over scaled-down 2026 event; urges possible compensation for excluded sports

  Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) president, Christopher Samuda, has expressed understanding and empathy toward the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) as they face the challenge of hosting a scaled-down version of the 2026 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland.

  With the event, traditionally a grand celebration of sport, culture, and unity, being reduced in size due to economic pressures, Samuda acknowledges the difficulties facing the CGF while also stressing the need to find ways to address the impact this decision will have on several sports that have been cut from the programme.

  Diving, rugby, squash, badminton, table tennis, hockey, triathlon, and cricket are among the sports that will not feature in the 2026 edition.

  The CGF initially struggled to find a host after the Australian state of Victoria withdrew last year, before Glasgow, known for its rich sporting history as a host city—including hosting the 2014 edition of the game—stepped in to save the 2026 Games. However, this comes with the reality of hosting a more compact edition than previous iterations.

  

  For Samuda, the situation is an unfortunate but understandable outcome in a global landscape.

  “The circumstances in which the Commonwealth Games Federation unavoidably found itself inevitably led to a scaled-down edition of the games. I regret the exclusion of badminton, table tennis, squash, and hockey; for those sports, the Jamaica Olympic Association has earmarked for real transitioning. The CGF’s decision was clearly influenced by commercial factors and the economy of a diminished sporting agenda, for at the end of the day, the games must be viable to ensure sustainability,” Samuda said.

  However, Samuda also noted that the decision to reduce the scope of the Games, which will see several sports omitted from the 2026 programme, raises important questions about the future of those disciplines within the Commonwealth sporting family.

  He argued that the CGF must find ways to compensate the sports that have been excluded, as they are integral to the diversity and spirit of the Commonwealth Games.

  “Going forward, however, the CGF has to develop a strategy that will compensate those sports that are being excluded so as not to lose the interest and confidence of their international federations, commercial partners, and most importantly, the players and athletes for whom sports exist,” he reasoned.

  Despite the current challenges, Samuda remains optimistic about the future of the Commonwealth Games and the role it plays in uniting nations through sport. He sees the 2026 edition in Glasgow as an opportunity to innovate and adapt, ensuring that the Games remain relevant in a changing world.

  

  The Games will feature a 10-sport programme across four venues within an eight-mile corridor, with more than 500,000 tickets made available for spectators.

  Athletics and swimming are included as compulsory sports for 2026, while there will also be track cycling, gymnastics, netball, weightlifting, boxing, judo, bowls, and 3x3 basketball.

  “It is critical that the next games, while being an economic reinvention, should retain that unique traditional value that has given many sports and invaluable space on the Commonwealth sporting agenda and which have made it competitive as a sporting and commercial product amidst growing competition for the partnership dollar and public viewership and appeal,” Samuda said.

• JOA taking the lead in Sport Education

  The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) continues to put training and education at the centre of sport development.

  Through the Advanced Sports Management Course (ASMC), a partnership with Olympic Solidarity, and its own activation “Stamina,” the JOA offers stakeholders a curriculum of  practical and comprehensive principles and best practices.

  Ethics, business, law, finance, brand and marketing, human resource development, science and information technology merge with other subjects in providing an inter-disciplinary menu in sport education. 

  The JOA directors are taking the lead and continuing to share their professional competencies and experience as well success models with sport leaders in the ASMC, another edition of which will begin later this year. 

  JOA President, Christopher Samuda, a prominent Attorney-at-Law and an executive board member of regional sport organisations, will construct for participants a successful sport association within a constitutional and legal framework. 

  JOA Secretary General and CEO, Ryan Foster, will share  the breadth of his expertise as a noted and well-respected Chartered Accountant and his  experience as chairman of regional sport Finance Commissions in underscoring the importance of financial literacy, competence, planning, accountability, transparency and viability. 

  Treasurer of the apex governing body, Nichole Case, who is the Divisional Chief Information Officer for the GraceKennedy Financial Group, brings to the table her corporate credentials and know-how in information systems and technology in outlining industry policies and practices for the benefit of sport associations while established businessman and CEO of Mayberry Investments Limited, Gary Peart, will provide invaluable business principles and strategies as  indispensable elements of successful sport entities. 

  The JOA’s clear policy of investing in training and education is geared towards creating a knowledge-based sector as a prerequisite of a sport industry. Secretary General Foster summarizes the philosophy and approach of the national institution. “You can’t create if you don’t educate. You can’t be the best if you don’t invest and we, the JOA,  believe that to succeed we must take the lead” he said. 

  The ASMC is an internationally recognised and intense six-month   educational programme covering, in depth, critical aspects of sport administration. “It’s not a talkfest but an edu-sport multi-disciplinary test” President Samuda remarked.