Scholarships for Chinese

Jamaica opens its doors to 10 of country's athletes and coaches

Jamaica, the world's sprinting hotbed, has offered 10 scholarships to China for its sportsmen, administrators or coaches to study at G.C. Foster College, near the capital of Kingston.

Portia Simpson-Miller, the Caribbean nation's 67-year-old prime minister, made the offer during a recent five-day visit to China.

"I indicated to China's sports administration that we are quite willing to offer, in the first instance, 10 scholarships to athletes and if they would want us to train an administrator or a physical education teacher, we are quite willing," Simpson-Miller said.

She made the disclosure during an interview with Chinese media in Beijing. She noted that while Jamaica is blessed with naturally-gifted athletes, the country's success, particularly in track and field, had been greatly assisted by the nurturing of talent, wrote the Jamaica Gleaner, the island's leading newspaper.

She also said China had accepted the offer.

The prime minister said the invitation was a result of the long years of friendship, dating back about 40 years in terms of diplomatic ties.

Simpson-Miller last Friday visited the Bird's Nest stadium where Usain Bolt sped to Olympic and world records in the 100 and 200 meters at the 2008 Games and pointed out the sprinter's importance to the island which swept all the sprint gold medals at the recent IAAF World Athletics Championships in Moscow.

"Sports for us is a big thing. When we get a world champion, Jamaica celebrates. We have had a number of outstanding athletes, and Usain Bolt is one very special to us, and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is now the fastest woman," she said.

Highlighting Bolt, she said, "he is very famous, everybody would like to be like 'Lightning' Bolt. He is very special to us and a very humble nice young man".

The prime minister went on to point out the role G.C. Foster, in the south-central parish of St. Catherine has played in the development of athletes, the food eaten on the island and how people in the island's rural areas nurture young athletes.

"Perhaps it is in our food, the yams, the bananas, and whatever they consume," she said.

"The rural athletes do walk very far, the distance to get to school is quite challenging," she said while claiming Jamaica's growing success in track events was not a fluke.

She outlined Jamaica's success from its first appearance at the Olympic in London in 1948. Arthur Wint won the country's first gold in the 400m at those Games and has been followed by fellow outstanding track stars like Cynthia Thompson, Juliet Cuthbert, Grace Jackson, Merlene Ottey, Deon Hemmings, Veronica Campbell-Brown, Fraser-Pryce, Herb McKenley, Donald Quarrie, Bertland Cameron, Asafa Powell, Yohan Blake and the incomparable Bolt.

Jamaica-China sporting links have developed in recent years with the most outstanding example being a stadium in the northern parish of Trelawny - the home of Bolt and Campbell-Brown - which was built by a Chinese firm for the opening ceremony and practice games of the 2007 World Cup of Cricket in the Caribbean.

All did not go entirely smoothly as the Chinese workers regarded the barren pitch area as the ideal place to plant vegetables. However, the venue was up and running in time for the event's opening.