The CARIFTA Games is an annual junior athletics competition founded by Barbadian Austin Sealy in 1972. The Games has its origins in the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA), which was made up primarily of countries from the English-speaking Caribbean.
In 1972, when the CARIFTA was enlarged to include non-English speaking countries of the Caribbean, namely the French and Dutch speaking nations, became known as CARICOM.
The Games consists of most of the Track & Field disciplines involving running, jumping and throwing and has two age-group categories, namely Under 17 and Under 20 for both males and females.
The Games are meant to enhance relationships between the countries and impress upon all the commonality of purpose shared between the Caribbean Islands, which are touched by the Caribbean Sea. To date there is no Spanish-speaking Caribbean nation taking part in the Games.
The Games, run entirely under IAAF Rules, are traditionally staged over the Easter weekend every year in one of the member states of CARICOM. The timing of the Games is to facilitate the school calendar of the young athletes.
Since its inauguration in 1972, the Games have grown from strength to strength and has been described by IAAF President Lamine Diack, (himself an annual spectotor at the GAMES), as being on par with the World Championships. It is arguably the most important regional Junior Athletic Championship outside of the World Youth or World Junior Championships. College and university coaches and scouts from the United States of America travel to the Games every year to identify potential athletes for their schools’ athletic programs.
The Games have produced a plethora of World Record holders and World Track & Field Champions and Stars over the years including Usain Bolt, Kim Collins, Darrel Brown, Pauline Davis-Thompson, Merlene Ottey, Obadele Thompson, Debbie Ferguson, Cydonie Mothersill, Kareen Streete-Thompson, Alleyne Francique, Veronica Campbell, Marie Jose-Perec and Meleanie Walker, just to name a few. Indeed over 30 Olympic Games medallists can trace their origins to the Carifta Games.
The Jamaicans have been the traditional powerhouses of the Games, having topped the medal tables in most years that the Games have been renewed.
Each country may enter up to two athletes per event and up to six athletes may be entered for relay events (with two acting as substitutes) and three athletes in the combined events of pentathlon and heptathlon.
The Games will be held in Bermuda for the fourth time, the previous Games being held here in 1975, 1980 and 2004.
the commentator in Bahamas is wacky.. he should go back to school to learn to commentate...
ReplyDelete