In 1972, Austin Sealy inaugurated the CARIFTA Games to mark the transition from the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA) to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). CARIFTA was meant to enhance relations between the English-speaking countries of the Caribbean after the dissolution of the West Indies Federation, but the CARIFTA Games took that idea a step further, including the French and Dutch Antilles in an annual junior track and field championship meet.
The meet which normally conducted over three days during the Easter period, consists of two age categories for boys and girls: under-17 and under-20, the latter in line with the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) guidelines for junior athletes. The meet is run entirely under IAAF rules.
The Games have produced Olympians like, Usain Bolt of Jamaica, Darrel Brown of Trinidad, Kim Collins of St Kitts-Nevis, Pauline Davis-Thompson of the Bahamas, Alleyne Francique of Grenada and Obadele Thompson of Barbados and our very own, Kareem Streete-Thompson, Cydonie Mothersill and Ronald Forbes.
The Cayman Islands first competed in the CARIFTA Games in 1979 in Jamaica.
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