The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) and Jamaica Paralympic Association (JPA) have renewed their partnership with Japan’s Tottori Prefecture.

The partnership was formalized during an online signing ceremony, attended by JOA and JPA President Christopher Samuda; Tottori Prefecture Governor Shinji Hirai; JOA Secretary General Ryan Foster, Tottori City Mayor Yoshihiko Fukazawa; Jamaica’s Ambassador to Japan, Shorna-Kay Richards and Japan’s Ambassador to Jamaica Yasuhiro Atsumi.

As part of the arrangement, Jamaican athletes train in Tottori and the “sharing of specialist knowledge.”
The JOA, JPA, and Tottori have been working together since 2015, when the latter sent athletes to Jamaica’s Reggae Marathon and has done so every year since.

Jamaican athletes also trained in Tottori, which lies on the southwest of Japan’s largest island Honshu, before the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

Samuda described the partnership as a “global model of mutuality and cooperation for generations in sport” while JOA Secretary General Ryan Foster said it “signals an unwavering commitment of the JOA and JPA and our partner to empower sport and sportsmen and women.”

A communique released reads, “The parties expressed continued confidence in their bi-lateral relationship which will witness, among other activations in the Olympic and Paralympic movements, training camps in Tottori for Jamaican teams competing in events in Japan or neighbouring countries, the sharing of specialist knowledge and expertise in various fields of sport through exchange initiatives including special envoys for coaches, the execution of special cross-border projects and the staging of public training sessions.”

The communique notes that the “Tottori dignitaries lauded the partnership as strengthening and deepening the relationship between Jamaica and Japan, a view which was endorsed by the Ambassadors who both brought congratulatory messages while expressing tremendous optimism in the continued success of this historic partnership.”