Dear Editor,

Without a doubt the recently held Inter-secondary Schools Sports Association (ISSA)/GraceKennedy Boys’ and Girls’ Athletics Championships (Champs) was a huge success.

In fact, this annual athletic display has been attracting teams from some of our Caribbean neighbours.

Many of the student athletes who gained success at Champs will be future Olympians. However, Champs is not all about winning. The yearly event has become a part of Brand Jamaica and should be viewed as a vehicle for the promotion of sports diplomacy.

Sports diplomacy (SD) has become increasingly important for different reasons. In particular, SD has been proved to boost national branding and attractiveness as well as global reputation. Examples of SD’s contribution to these goals can be found both in academic frameworks and in various discussions of the strategic objectives of many countries worldwide; for example, China’s approach regarding sanitising its image as hosts of the 2008 Olympic Games. More recently, China adopted ‘The Medium- and Long-Term Development Plan For Chinese Football (2016–2050)’, which clearly links SD to the notion and practice of national branding and economic attractiveness.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is another example of a country that has been utilising SD to rebrand its image. Over the years its image has been tarnished because of a poor human rights record as well as the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Saudi Arabia has, however, been investing heavily in global sports, from football to Formula 1 racing. Additionally, in late 2022 footballer Cristiano Ronaldo moved to Saudi Arabian club Al-Nassr. The move shocked the soccer community and brought a lot of attention to the country, as one of the most famous players in the world decided to play in a minor league in this Middle Eastern country.

Recently, the the Council of European Ministers of Sport concluded that, “Sport diplomacy can be understood as the use of sport as a means to influence diplomatic, intercultural, social, economic, and political relations. It is an inseparable part of public diplomacy, which is a long-term process of communication with the public and organisations with aims such as heightening the attractiveness and image of a country, region, or city and influence decision-making on policy areas. It helps to achieve foreign policy goals in a way that is visible and comprehensible for the general public.”

Jamaica already has a cultural global presence, which has been rightly earned. Nevertheless, much more can and should be done regarding how as a society we can leverage our sporting prowess to influence global diplomatic, intercultural, social, economic, and political relations.

In keeping with Vision 2030, Jamaica aims to transform itself into an attractive option. Jamaica’s development plan embodies a process for the realisation of a collective vision, culminating in the country being “the place of choice to live, work, raise families, and do business”.

Sports have the power to transcend borders and cultures and unite people from different backgrounds and ideologies. Jamaica now needs to re-examine how sports can be used as a platform for dialogue and cooperation while our athletes continue to serve as cultural ambassadors.

Wayne Campbell

waykam@yahoo.com

@WayneCamo