“Money goes in, and it doesn’t go out…” Rajindra Campbell, the Paris Olympics bronze medalist shot put athlete, is no longer keeping quiet about the problems with Jamaica’s athletics federation. He was among the ones hoping for improvement and support for a long time. When that didn’t come through, he finally shifted his allegiance to Turkey. But now, he’s uncovered another issue. This time, not with the Jamaican body but with the mega sponsor brand, Puma.

Rajindra Campbell has been unsponsored for a while now, even though the Jamaica Athletics Administrative Association (JAAA) is a Puma-sponsored association. Feels odd, right? Thus, when he spoke on the Coach’s Desk TV recently, on June 24, Campbell was asked what he believes is the reason behind this. That’s when the athlete revealed a few problems at the root of this issue…

Speaking to Coach’s Desk TV via a phone call, Rajindra Campbell answered that as transparently as he could. He opined, “I believe that if you’re a national sponsor, and you sponsor a national team, you should prioritize your athletes. That’s just common sense.” However, he highlighted the strange reality of the Jamaican track and field national sponsor, “I believe that Adidas has made more push to sponsor Jamaican athletes than Pumas…” What’s more surprising? Campbell even said, “They [Puma] have no interest in throwers. That’s what I was told.” 

Campbell then went on to explain the problem in the Puma contract. He said, “There are details of contract that goes towards athletes, that goes towards development program. If there was a switch that was necessary, obviously they’re going to cover whatever the contract is doing. They’re going to cover it. What that proves to me is that they are more care about their ally to the sponsor and not their ally to the country.” He even resented the fact that no statement was made about this. This led him to say, “There needs to be some transparency in how sports is managed in Jamaica. And until that happens, I believe more athletes will leave.” Now that is a big statement to make!

On another note, Campbell revealed that it was someone in the inner circle who revealed to him that the Adidas contract was more athlete-centered than federation-centered. He even said that if you switched to Adidas, the majority of those who went to the Olympics got a contract. But about Puma, Campbell continued, saying, “But being that Puma is our main sponsor, our main sponsor is still like, yo, we are not interested in it.” He even believes that the Jamaican federation needs to give it a push themselves. He said, “Jamaica is so huge. It’s easily marketable.”

Well, a culmination of all these issues and others that the athletes have cited has resulted in Roje Stona and Rajindra Campbell leaving Jamaica for Turkey. Turkey now promises them a hefty $500K signing bonus and many financial perks. But could JAAA have avoided this? Did they have better offers on their plate?

While Rajindra Campbell was still in Jamaica, JAAA had re-signed Puma

Yes, JAAA’s deal with Puma was said to expire around the end of 2024. But, before that even happened, JAAA officially renewed its partnership with the sportswear giant, Puma. As reported by sources, this extension was done by surpassing an offer of approximately USD $6 million from Adidas. The JAAA president showed great trust in the brand and said, “Puma has been an invaluable partner, supporting grassroots initiatives, high school programs, and major national events like the Boys and Girls Championships and the Gibson Relays.”

In this new partnership, they had called for increased transparency. But when asked in March 2025 to break the silence on Puma’s offer, the JAAA president stayed silent to honor the contract. Well, as the sponsor-country dynamics continue to pan out, the athlete just voiced his viewpoint, and that isn’t looking too good right now!