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JOA president praises Junior Panam wrestling medallist
August 26, 2025
Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) President, Christopher Samuda, has praised wrestler Tyler Tracy on his historic bronze-medal winning performance at the Junior Pan American Games in the men's 74kg division.
Tracy became Jamaica's first-ever wrestling medallist at the competition, after defeating Paraguay's Joao Maldonado 10-0 in the bronze medal match.
The win was also Jamaica's only medal at the Games, outside of track and field.
Tracy began his campaign with a 9-4 win over Puerto Rico's Tanner Peake in the quarter-finals, but was defeated by Cuban wrestler Orislandy Perdomo 10-0 in the semi-finals.
With a historic medal finish on the line, Tracy recovered well from the loss to down Maldonado to claim a spot on the podium.
Perdomo would advance to the final, but lost to eventual champion Mitchell Mesenbrink of the United States, who claimed the title with a 10-0 scoreline.
Samuda praised Tracy's performance and said his medal finish is a positive sign for Jamaica's growth across several sporting disciplines.
He said the result is also key to the JOA's mission to ensure Jamaica can be well represented across all sports on the globe stage, including the Olympic Games.
"Progress in sport is all about diversifying the talent economy, making plural investments in developing talent, and creating pathways for strategically transitioning that talent to the Olympic and other global stages," Samuda said.
"Tyler and a growing number of sportsmen and women understand their role in JOA's mission, and the JOA continues to be motivated by their conviction and achievements.
Samuda asserted Jamaica can become a global powerhouse in several sporting disciplines, including wrestling, and says the talent is there.
He, however, insisted much work needs to be done to ensure these talents can fulfil their potential through support and guidance.
"If we are to realise our aspirations of becoming a hub of sporting excellence, we must create streams that feed into a reservoir of talent. We have the raw material. It's time we build the production line."
MEDALS
Meanwhile, on Friday's final day, Jamaica collected five medals in track and field, led by a sterling performance by Racquil Broderick who set a championship record of 61.79 metres in the men's discus on his way to claiming gold.
Jamaica failed to win a medal after the first two days, but rebounded to win five medals on Wednesday's third day, two on Thursday, and five on Friday to end with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals to finish fifth on the track and field table.
Jamaica also won three medals in swimming.
Cuba led the way with 13 medals (eight gold, three silver and two bronze), followed by Canada with 15 medals (seven gold, seven silver and one bronze), Colombia with 14 medals (seven gold, four silver and three bronze) and Mexico with 19 (four gold, five silver and 10 bronze).
Broderick actually broke the championship record of 61.08m in the second round, before returning to improve on his performance, becoming the second Jamaican to set a new record at the meet after Jasauna Dennis clocked 45.56 seconds to win the men's 400m, breaking the 45.59 seconds set in 2021.
Fellow Jamaican Christopher Young was second with 59.34m and Brazil's Mateus Torres third (58.73).
Also on Friday, Sabrina Lyn claimed silver in the women's 100m breaststroke, Colin McKenzie finished third in the men's 100m breaststroke and Tyler Tracey won bronze in men's wrestling (74kg freestyle).
