Sports Minister ‘Babsy’ Off to Beijing to Give Support to Jamaican Team

The Honourable Olivia “Babsy” Grange, Minister of Information, Culture, Youth and Sports, is now en route to represent the Government of Jamaica at the 29th Olympiad in Beijing.
She will arrive in the Chinese capital tomorrow morning, Wednesday, 13th August.
“I am so eager to get to Beijing and to be with our people,” the Sports Minister said just before departing Jamaica late yesterday afternoon. “All of Jamaica is waiting with bated breath for what we expect to be the best performance by our athletes in the history of the Olympic Games and I will be in Beijing to support the team and officials in every way possible on behalf of the Government and people of Jamaica.”
On Thursday, Miss Grange, accompanied by the Honourable Edmund Bartlett, Minister of Tourism, will visit the Olympics Village to meet and greet the athletes.
On Friday she will attend a business seminar hosted by Jamaica Trade and Invest while on Saturday the Sports Minister will be guest at a “Visit Jamaica Promotional Brunch” hosted by the Tourism Minister.
Minister Grange will also attend a Reggae performance featuring Julian Marley at the Westin Hotel where she is staying.
She starts attending the sports events on Sunday and next week Monday will play host to Jamaican journalists covering the Summer Games. The function will be held in the VIP Lounge of the Westin.
Before leaving Jamaica, Minister Grange also expressed satisfaction that the Cabinet had approved the appointment of the members to the Jamaica Anti-Doping Commission (JADCO).
She said that she expected the eleven-member board, chaired by Professor Errol Morrison, to ensure that JADCO effectively carried out its mandate of implementing the National Anti-Doping Programme.
Minister Grange spoke also of the importance of the extensive educational and information programme to be undertaken by JADCO to inform persons in sports about issues surrounding doping. Issues such as the health consequences of doping; harm of doping to the ethical values of sports; substance and methods and the prohibited list; doping control procedures and the athletes’ rights and responsibilities with regard to anti-doping in sports and the consequences of committing an Anti-doping Rule Violation.