Reject US sprint challenge

Jamaica should reject the USA's sprint challenge. The Olympics and World Cup soccer are the only true world sporting events that give equal chances to nations and athletes to claim dominance in an event(s) every four years.

No one should try to undermine that victory and pride by implying they don't believe our athletes were that good, "Our sprinters are not ready to concede Jamaican dominance ...". The Jamaican athletes earned that dominance on the world stage with drug-free athletes and billions of people worldwide watching and cheering. Decency and good sportsmanship dictate that 2012 in London, before billions of people is the right stage to prove dominance. How can one claim dominance when in Sydney, Athens, etc., some of your star performers have lost their medals and are in jail for cheating?

You cannot buy dominance, you have to earn it in London 2012.

- Leslie Johnson

ljohns4542@rogers.com

Ontario, Canada

Jamaica as an IFSC

As chairman of the 'Global Financial Services Centre Conference', which takes place annually in Dublin, Ireland, I was very pleased to read of the considerable progress made by the government of Jamaica as it looks to create an International Financial Services Centre (IFSC) structure on the island as indicated in the article 'Jamaica as an international financial centre', by Don Wehby (Sunday Gleaner, March 8).

Despite these difficult and uncertain times for global financial markets, there is a very significant opportunity to create a niche of new employment and an engine of economic growth for the Jamaican economy as a whole.

I wish the people and Government of Jamaica every success in this endeavour.

- Patrick L Young

patrick@patricklyoung.com

Pleased with Gov't

I am pleased with the programme that the Jamaican government has initiated for the young farmers of Jamaica. These are the programmes the Jamaican people need to be self-sufficient in food and also for exporting.

If the Jamaican Government fully utilises the thousands of acres of sugar cane land into mixed crop farming and invest more into tourism by building more hotels and leasing the hotels to hoteliers who can properly manage them, there should be an end to poverty in Jamaica. Crime will no more make Jamaica a laughing stock.

Jamaicans are some of the hardest working people on the face of the earth , all they need is a good government with the right plan and the assistance to move the country in the right direction.

- Steve L. Allen

lyndonallen@rogers.com

TorontoCanada