Jamaica has been given the all clear to host the 49th edition of the Carifta Games over Easter in 2022. 

Garth Gayle, president of the Jamaica Athletic Administrative Association (JAAA), made the announcement at the North American, Central American and Caribbean Special Congress on Saturday (November 6).

Gayle announced that the JAAA had received official word from Olivia Grange, Jamaica’s minister of gender, culture, entertainment and sports.

Grange is of the view that hosting the Carifta Games would be an ideal fit with the government’s plans for a year-long celebration of the country’s Diamond Jubilee as an independent nation.

The Carifta Games were scheduled to be held in Bermuda earlier this year but was eventually cancelled because of spikes in the spread of COVID-19 in that country. Usually held during the Easter weekend, the Games were first moved to July 2-4 and then to August 13-15 before it was eventually cancelled in May.

Jamaica last hosted the Carifta Games in 2011.

Jamaica has been a dominating force at the Carifta Games, winning 43 of the previous 48 editions.

At the 2018 and 2019 editions, held in The Bahamas and Cayman Islands, respectively, Jamaica’s Briana Williams won back to back Austin Sealy Awards as the outstanding athlete of the meet. She was the first Jamaican to win consecutive awards since Usain Bolt in 2003 and 2004.