The past week has seen Jamaica’s sporting ecosystem rocked by the revelation that four of the country’s top field event athletes have committed to switching their allegiance from Jamaica to Turkey.
Roje Stona, Rajindra Campbell, Jaydon Hibbert and Wayne Pinnock are said to be part of a broader initiative driven by Turkish sporting authorities and facilitated by a prominent American sports agent.
According to sources, each athlete is set to receive a minimum of US$500,000, along with generous monthly stipends and six-figure bonuses for medals earned at global championships.
Reports further suggest that the athletes have agreed to eight-year contracts, effectively committing to Türkiye through the 2032 Olympic cycle.
With that in mind, Jamaica’s Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the hon. Olivia ‘Babsy’ Grange has announced a number of initiatives her ministry is set to explore in order to provide more support to the nation’s top athletes and prevent this from going any further.
“I am committed to looking at the following initiatives: Establishing a national athlete support and retention strategy, looking at how we can expand partnerships with the private sector to provide financial incentives and sponsorship opportunities and enhancing training and recovery infrastructure to meet international standards,” she said before continuing.
“Offering career transition services for athletes beyond competition, long-term career planning and transition services, expanded financial and health coverage discussions in collaboration with the private sector, further incentivized national representation packages, particularly for high-performance athletes and strengthening partnerships with sporting federations to ensure wholistic athlete development from start to finish.”
This comes after Jamaica’s Prime Minister, Andrew Holness, addressed the matter publicly for the first time while speaking at a special reception hosted by Nike on Monday night honoring sprint icon Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce at the AC Hotel in Kingston.
Holness acknowledged the emotional toll of the recent exodus and made clear that more must be done to protect Jamaica’s sporting legacy.
“Undoubtedly, we have as a country been successful in creating an ecosystem that produces world-class athletes,” Holness said. “We will constantly be challenged as to what more we can do to improve this ecosystem for the benefit of our athletes and our country.”
He added: “Having regard to the fact that there are limitations to what governments can do financially and administratively in sports, I’ve asked Minister Grange to lead further consultations with stakeholders—including the federations, the private sector and national representatives themselves—to discuss a new framework for our elite athletes’ development and retention.”