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The 53rd edition of the Carifta Games, one of the Caribbean’s most prestigious annual junior athletics competitions, wrapped up on Monday at Grenada’s Kirani James Athletics Stadium, and it ended with a historic milestone for Jamaican track and field. For the 40th year running, Jamaica claimed the top spot on the overall medals table, capping off a dominant five-day performance with an impressive total haul of 71 medals.

Heading into the final day of competition, Jamaican junior athletes had already secured 43 medals across a range of events, but the team pushed for even more success to cement their leading position. By the close of the final event, the nation added 28 additional medals to its count, finishing with an uneven split of 28 gold, 27 silver, and 16 bronze medals – a total more than double that of the second-place finisher.

Trinidad and Tobago took second place in the overall rankings, finishing with a total of 35 medals: nine gold, 11 silver, and 15 bronze. The Bahamas followed closely behind in third with 30 total medals, comprising eight gold, 12 silver, and 10 bronze. Host nations and smaller Caribbean territories rounded out the top five: Barbados landed in fourth with 17 medals (six gold, three silver, eight bronze), while Guyana claimed fifth place with a six-medal haul that included four gold, one silver, and one bronze.

The final day of competition delivered several standout moments for the Jamaican squad, particularly in the closing 4x400m relay events. Jamaica claimed victory in three of the four scheduled relay races: the girls’ Under-17, girls’ Under-20, and boys’ Under-17 divisions. The only relay title that eluded the Jamaican team was the boys’ Under-20 race, where the squad finished second to a record-breaking Barbados team that delivered a stunning performance to take gold.

In individual event action, Jamaican athlete Michael-Andre Edwards rebounded from an earlier disappointment to claim top honors in the boys’ Under-20 triple jump. Edwards, who had previously lost his long jump title earlier in the championships, soared 15.84m with a -0.9m/s headwind to take gold. His win marked a one-two finish for Jamaica, as compatriot Rekelme Hunter took silver with a jump of 15.28m against a -0.1m/s wind.

Adding another medal to the nation’s final-day haul, Xavier Tracey secured a bronze finish in the boys’ Under-17 discus throw with a best throw of 51.30m, rounding out a dominant overall performance for the Jamaican delegation that extended their decades-long unbroken run atop the Carifta Games medals standings.

LONDON, United Kingdom – The global sports community is mourning the loss of Craig Reedie, the pioneering British sports administrator who led the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and was instrumental in securing London’s hosting rights for the 2012 Olympic Games, who has passed away at the age of 84. The confirmation of his death was made public on Monday by sports leaders who paid tribute to his decades-long legacy in international sport.

Current WADA President Witold Banka honored Reedie’s contributions in an official statement, remembering him as a paragon of integrity and a lifelong advocate for clean, fair competition. “With Sir Craig’s passing, we have lost a true gentleman and clean sport champion,” Banka said. “He was a man of great integrity and, as a sportsman at heart, he believed that sport shows us it is always possible to do better – a belief he applied to his leadership of WADA.”

Before stepping into global anti-doping leadership, Reedie built his career as both an athlete and an administrator. A competitive international badminton player who represented Great Britain during his playing career, he was elected president of the International Badminton Federation in 1981. During his tenure, he achieved a defining career milestone: successfully campaigning to secure badminton’s permanent inclusion as an Olympic medal sport starting at the 1992 Barcelona Games.

From 1992 to 2005, Reedie chaired the British Olympic Association (BOA), a role that put him at the center of Britain’s push to host the Summer Olympics. At the time, Paris was widely considered the clear favorite to win hosting rights for the 2012 Games, but Reedie’s strategic guidance and behind-the-scenes work laid the groundwork for London’s stunning upset victory in the bidding process. Sebastian Coe, who led London’s bid committee and now serves as president of World Athletics, called Reedie a critical influence on his career and the success of the 2012 Games. In a post on X, Coe remembered Reedie as “my mentor, wise counsel, passionate advisor, and great friend,” adding, “Without Craig and his leadership of the British Olympic Association, we may never have won the right to host London 2012.”

Reedie went on to hold a series of top global sports roles, including vice-president of the International Olympic Committee, before serving as WADA president from 2014 to 2019. His tenure at the anti-doping body was not without controversy: in 2018, WADA voted to lift a three-year suspension on Russian athletes that had been imposed over evidence of state-sponsored doping at the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics. The decision drew widespread criticism from athlete advocacy groups and national sports organizations around the world, marking a contentious final chapter of his leadership.

Despite the controversy of his later career, tributes from across the global sports landscape have emphasized Reedie’s lasting impact on expanding the Olympic movement and advancing the cause of anti-doping, cementing his status as one of British sport’s most influential figures of the past 50 years.