Cudjoe-Lewis: Trinidad and Tobago athletes get most $$ support

SPORT and Community Development Minister Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis has said Trinidad and Tobago provides the highest level of funding to athletes in the Caribbean, and a review of the national sport policy will begin in fiscal 2025.

In the Senate on November 26, Cudjoe-Lewis told senators for this year's Olympic Games in France, she was advised that the Jamaican government offered the equivalent of $15,300 to each of their athletes who qualified for the games, to help with their preparations.

She said under the Elite Assistance Athlete Programme, started under the PNM in 2006, the amounts offered to help athletes prepare for major international competitions are much higher.

Athletes who rank in the top ten positions in the world, Cudjoe-Lewis continued, each receive $250,000.

She added the next 11 to 40 positions receive $187,500.

Cudjoe-Lewis said it is also possible for athletes outside of these positions who win medals in their competitions to receive $75,000 on a case-by-case basis.

She told senators outside this programme, there are other sources of funding athletes could access. Cudjoe-Lewis identified the Sport and Culture Fund at the Office of the Prime Minister as one of them.

She rejected claims by Opposition Senator David Nakhid that there is no funding for sport in schools. Cudjoe-Lewis said $15 million was allocated towards this purpose.

She reminded senators about the ministry's I Choose Sport programme, which was recently launched to promote sport in schools.

Cudjoe-Lewis said establishing a sporting culture in schools was the first step towards identifying talented athletes who could be helped to achieve greatness in their sporting discipline.

She added, "In this new fiscal year, we will begin a review of the national sporting policy by providing an opportunity for the various stakeholders to participate in the process."