By NAN Sports Editor
News Americas, NEW YORK, NY, Fri. Sept. 15, 2017: The International Olympics Committee, IOC, is concerned about sports organizations decimated by Hurricane Irma and is putting its money where that concern is.
A US$1 million pledge has been made to rebuild Caribbean sports organizations. Speaking in the Peruvian capital Lima, the IOC President Thomas Bach said the funds will come from the Olympic Solidarity and the Pan-American Sports Organization (PASO). The IOC says it will cooperate with the region’s National Olympic Committees in the coming days.
Among those to lose their lives during the storms last week was Dag Samuels, an athletics coach from the British Virgin Islands. Local reports say he fell from a roof during the hurricane on the island of Tortola.
Samuels was the mentor of 400m hurdles prodigy Kyron McMaster, whose national record of 47.80 was the fastest time in the world this year. The 20-year-old was disqualified in the first round of the IAAF World Championships but earned a $50,000 payday in winning the IAAF Diamond League final in Zurich over world champion Karsten Warholm of Norway.
