Raising the Game of Haitian Athletes

(ATR) Haitian National Olympic Committee president Hans Larsen says that while the Sport for Hope Centre in Haiti has been a game-changer, the NOC still has substantial work to do in order to best serve Haitian athletes with Olympic aspirations.

"I feel that the center changed the lives of lots of young kids, giving a lot of hope," Larsen tells Around the Rings in Lima. "Now, after a starting period, we are ready to build our future Olympic champions."

The expansive multisport complex, built at a cost of $18 million, was opened in July 2014 with funding provided by the IOC.

Haiti will have a small delegation of athletes competing in track and field, boxing and equestrian at next month’s Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. Two additional athletes are attempting to qualify in swimming.

Larsen, a former 100-meter dash sprinter and long jumper for Haiti, points out that lack of funding, despite the IOC’s generosity, is still a significant challenge.

"We need money – the IOC has given us $980,000 to run the center, but we still need money to build champions," Larsen said. "We have to plan for the next eight, 10 years.

"We have a big problem with the government – we have no money from the government. And with the political crisis in Haiti, the private sector cannot really deliver.

"We are in the process of developing a new marketing approach to see exactly how to collect money to see how to make this happen.

"We are on our way and I think in six months we will have a center with a new vision."

Larsen and secretary general Alain Jean-Pierre noted that the Haitian NOC has changed its strategy and is now focusing on elevating athletes to the next level focusing on the four core sports – boxing, track and field, taekwondo and judo – that Haiti has achieved the best results in.

We have a plan in Haiti and we’re not going to do as we used to do," Jean-Pierre said. "We’re going to look at the federations that have better performances and we’re going to give them the money to train and everything else we can."

It will also take advantage of a Panam Sports solidarity program which allocates $100,000 per country for the hiring of coaches.

"We’re going to use that money to focus on these sports where we have more chance to get medals or make finals," Jean-Pierre advised.

Jean-Pierre noted that Haiti plans to develop and collaborate on new programs in cooperation with elite level boxing coaches and trainers from Cuba, a nation which has built and achieved decades of international success in the sport.

Haiti at the Olympic Games

Haiti sent 10 athletes, seven men and three women, across seven sports to the Rio 2016 Games. It was the country’s largest delegation since 1976.

Eight of the athletes were born and raised in the United States, having acquired dual citizenship to represent their parents’ homeland at the Games.

Haiti has a longstanding history of competing at the Olympic Games, but has won only two medals. The small Caribbean country claimed its first medalat the 1924 Paris Games – a bronze in the free rifle competition team event.

Four years later at the Amsterdam Games, Silvio Cator soared to a silver medal in the long jump. One month later, Cator set the world long jump record of 7.93 meters in Paris. The mark is still the Haitian national record and interestingly, remains the oldest national record in track and field.

Larsen sees the potential for Haiti to once again attain Olympic medals in the not too distant future. However, he said it requires a 12-year cycle minimum to see medals.

"We always have a view looking long-term," Larsen said.

"We see opportunities – I’m not going to say we’ll have a podium in Tokyo, but maybe a final in Tokyo and a podium in Paris.

"It’s a long way and maybe I will not be there then, but it’s Haiti and sports and we are working for the future."

Written and reported by Brian Pinelli

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