IF YOU ARE HOPING to purchase locally a jacket, shirt or even a pair of socks similar to what will be worn by the Barbados Olympic team, you can forget about it.
Every single piece of the Puma-sponsored gear has been shipped straight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, because the duties are simply too prohibitive for the Barbados Olympic Association (BOA).
A source told WEEKENDSPORT this came out of the experience with the 2015 Pan Am Games, where they were effectively paid for twice. That gear was purchased for $48 000 and cost a further $2 000 to ship.
When contacted for confirmation, BOA president Steve Stoute said it was an option they did not even explore.
“For the Pan Am Games, the duty was $43 000. The Pan Am team was a lot bigger, but we didn’t take the time to find out how much this [Olympic gear] would cost because we weren’t paying for it,” he said. (SAT)
Please read the full story in today’s Weekend Nation, or in the eNATION edition.