Related items

• Americas Paralympic Committee gains autonomy, assumes ownership of regional games from IPC

  The Americas Paralympic Committee (APC), the regional governing body for Paralympic sports for North, South and Central America and the Caribbean with a membership of 33 countries, has gained autonomy from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC), the global apex body.

  The APC will now assume full ownership and delivery of senior and junior para regional games. In previous years, the IPC managed and sponsored those games but, after a period of several discussions and negotiations, the regional events have fallen to the APC and directors of the Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) are playing an instrumental role in history making.

  President of the Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA), Christopher Samuda and JPA directors, Ryan Foster, Carmen Patterson and Winfield Boban are committing their professional expertise and experience in building the new APC.

  Samuda, an attorney-at-law, is an APC executive board director and will spearhead legal and corporate governance affairs while Foster, a chartered accountant, will, as co-chairman of the Finance Commission, pilot the financial viability and fortunes of the regional body. Patterson, a corporate communications specialist, will join regional experts in delivering the brand and marketing strategies and activations of the APC and Boban will bring to the educational portfolio his knowledge and experience gained, particularly as a practitioner in rehabilitation management and prosthetics.

  The IPC, the global governing body, delivers every four years the world’s largest multi-sport para event,  the Paralympic Games, which this year will take place in Paris, France, from August 28 to September 8. The Santiago 2023 Para Panamerican Games, which was held in Chile, from November 17 to 26, witnessed the IPC’s last ownership of the games.

  Commenting on the historic role Jamaica will play Samuda said: “It is in our sporting DNA to construct, for the able with a difference, the present and future based on values in the hope that our work and that of our colleagues will birth an apex regional sporting body of probity which history will record as revolutionary and visionary.”

  Foster, advocates the imperative of a sound financial framework and base and gives a clear signal of what will be approach. “The sub-structure of any organization is crucial to the profitability of its superstructure and frugal management of expenses, innovative investment and revenue strategies as well as disciplined treasury operations are foundational to success.”

  With the APC assuming ownership, there will be “a dominant focus on establishing and monetizing international partnerships and commercializing proprietary rights and games’ media broadcast rights” Samuda said “while building regional capacity through the delivery of business and technical activations during and external to games,” he further added.

  Games are the lifeblood of governing regional and international bodies and Foster makes the case that “APC will be to its stakeholders more than a breath of fresh air as it will represent for them the very essence and excellence of para sports.”

  The heart of the Paralympic movement across the multi-lingual continents of the Americas and the Caribbean archipelago, the APC is keeping an appointment with destiny.

• Understandable but: Samuda says World Athletics prize money move runs counter to Olympic spirit

  While expressing an understanding for the move by World Athletics to award prize money at the Olympic Games, Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President Christopher Samuda believes a balance must be struck to preserve the spirit of the games.

  In an announcement on Wednesday, World Athletics stated that gold medal winners at this summer’s Paris Olympic Games, in each of the 48 athletic events, will receive US$50,000 (J$7.6 million). That same US$50,000 gold medal prize will be shared among team members of the winning team in relay events.

  World Athletics President Sebastian Coe said the decision to award the cash prizes reflected the efforts of track and field athletes “which attract billions of eyeballs” to the television coverage of the Olympics.

  “I don’t believe this is remotely at variance with the concept that the International Olympic Committee often talks about, which is recognising the efforts that our competitors make for the overall success of the Games,” Coe said.

  However, Samuda said though move is seemingly logical in World Athletics’ sight, the concept of prize money ran counter to 128 years of Olympic tradition and spirit of amateurism.

  “Giving prize money for Olympic gold medalists is understandably a sign of the times and marks what appears to be a growing high tide of world opinion. You know, the professional status of sport has brought with it, inevitably, an increase in demand for rewarding merit, particularly with the emergence of a plethora of competing interests for sporting talent as part of marketing and promotional campaigns and revenue generation,” Samuda said.

  “It is understandable in the circumstances. However, the priceless values in sport which Olympism embodies must be safeguarded,” he told SportsMax.TV.

  According to reports, the total prize fund of US$2.4 million proposed by World Athletics will come from the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) revenue share allocation that World Athletics receives every four years.

  The decision clearly blindsided the International Olympic Committee, which has never awarded money for participating or winning a medal, as it believes that to compete at a Games is reward enough.

  It is the first time since the founding of the modern Games in 1896 that a gold medal will automatically come with a guaranteed monetary prize from a sport’s governing body.

   “The priceless values in sport which Olympism embodies must be safeguarded as being critical to the heart, spirit and soul of sport, without which our efforts at creating a gentler and kinder humanity will be penniless. A balance has to be struck in the interest of sport,” Samuda stated.

  It is expected that for the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, prize money will also be extended to silver and bronze medallists.

• Samuda backs move to put £100 million support offer on table as CGF scrambles to find host for 2026 edition; Malaysia, Singapore mull co-hosting

  Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) president Christopher Samuda has backed the decision of the Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) to offer Malaysia £100 million (US$130 million) to host the 2026 edition of the quadrennial international multi-sport event.

  In fact, the £100 million offer is said to be one of "financial and strategic support" thrown out for any potential host, as the Commonwealth Games Federation is scrambling to find a host after the Australian state of Victoria abruptly pulled out in July last year, citing spiraling costs.

  Victoria's sudden move and the lack of an obvious alternative triggered debate about the future of the Games, and it is for this reason why Samuda supports the offer as significant financial investment to support the delivery and legacy planning of the 2026 edition. The Commonwealth Games were last held in Birmingham in 2022.

  “The significant investment offer to Malaysia to host the Commonwealth Games is an overture that I believe is being made after careful assessment by the Commonwealth Games Federation of Malaysia’s ability to deliver given the short timeline and, in view, understandably, of the urgency of which the federation needs to act. We know the ensuing days will no doubt witness hardnose negotiations to convince the Malaysian doubting Thomas’ that it will be a win-win situation,” Samuda told SportsMax.TV.

  Malaysia last hosted the Commonwealth Games in 1998, and given the huge success of that staging, the Southeast Asian country is seriously considering bringing the games back to its capital of Kuala Lumpur, as a final decision is to be made by the government.

  “At the end of the day, Kuala Lumpur will receive value and it won’t be mired in debt. The economic and cost benefit value and commercialization are increasingly becoming determinants for cities considering hosting international games. This, as over and above the feel good and historic significance, government and business interest are becoming acutely aware that failure may place offices, careers livelihoods and reputations at risk,” Samuda noted.

  

  Still, even if Malaysia accepts the offer to host, the possibility exists that it could be a scaled-down version, given the timeline. However, the London-based CGF suggested that another Southeast Asian nation, Singapore, are also assessing the feasibility of its invitation to host the games.

  Singapore, which is aiming to host more large-scale sports events, hosts the Formula One night race annually, and will be hosting the World Aquatic Championships in 2025. It also hosted the 2010 edition of the Youth Olympic Games.

  It has been reported that having both Malaysia and Singapore co-host the 2026 edition could be another possible outcome.

  Samuda pointed out that the current situation highlights the difficulty the CGF, and others face where planning and organizing large-scale sporting events are concerned. But in the same breath, he also expressed confidence in CGF president Chris Jenkins and his team to get the job done.

  “The delivery of the Commonwealth Games and others is a huge financial administrative and logistic undertaking which calls for, now more than ever, innovative and dynamic media broadcast arrangements, long-term partnership agreements, creative merchandising, robust fan engagement and bullish, but sensible ticket promotion and concession strategies,” Samuda shared.

  “These are the critical bucket items of revenue and must be cemented cornerstones in business models for games going forward. No doubt the Commonwealth Games Federation is attuned, and the Chris Jenkins-led executive has the credentials to reach the finish line,” he noted.