Holness supported genetic study on Jamaica's athletes - Epstein probe expands
- ROGER HASFAL
- 9 minutes ago
- 2 min read
Prime Minister Dr. Andrew Holness had endorsed the carrying out of a genetic study on Jamaica's athletes in 2016.
Recently released U.S. Epstein documents reference a peer-reviewed scientific study conducted in Jamaica, alongside private emails discussing many of Jamaica's top athletes and Jamaica sprint excellence.
The emails show Jeffery Epstein a convicted sex offender provided financial support to renowned Evolutionary Biologist Robert Trivers over several years, though it remains unclear whether he funded the sprinter research specifically.
The emails contain no indication that Trivers who once lived in Jamaica was involved in criminal activities.
No Jamaican athlete is accused of any wrongdoing and their names appear as symbols of excellence not as subjects of investigation.
Trivers, nonetheless, kept Epstein informed of his progress on the project.
In 2014, Trivers wrote he would be "measuring at least 73 elite sprinters in Kingston, including Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce," aiming to create "the world's first elite human sample" for genetic analysis.
He later wrote that he had contacted half the world's elite sprinters, including Usain Bolt, Yohan Blake, and Elaine Thompson.
On September 1, 2016 Trivers made a courtesy call on Prime Minister Holness.
According to a post Holness made on his Facebook page just after the visit, "I received a courtesy call yesterday afternoon from world renowned Evolutionary Biologist, Robert Trivers, who presented me with his memoir titled “Wild Life: Adventures of an Evolutionary Biologist”. Trivers who spends his time between Jamaica and the United States is planning to carry out the first elite genetic study on top sprinters in Jamaica, which I fully endorsed"
Of the scientists with substantial ties to Epstein, Trivers is perhaps the most influential within his discipline.
"Trivers acknowledged the financial relationship publicly to Reuters, saying he received $40,000 in funding from Epstein "to study the relationship between knee symmetry and sprinting ability." ~AOL Daily Voice
Trivers made comments that seemed to defend Epstein's reputation in a 2015 Reuters report, but by March 2019, their relationship had waned but never ended.
Trivers wrote, "After seven years of continuous support, you seemed to flip," while requesting a phone call.
Epstein responded later, suggesting focusing instead on "transgender biology" rather than honour sprinter studies, which he called having "little public interest".
Months later, Epstein was found dead in jail in August 2019.
Meantime, Trivers spent around 13 years living on and off in Jamaica, and has been married twice to Jamaican women.
He made his reputation with a series of papers while a graduate student at Harvard that substantially shaped the development of sociobiology and evolutionary psychology.
Papers in 1971 and 1972 described the evolution of altruism through reciprocal exchanges, and how differing degrees of parental investment between the sexes could explain mating behavior like desertion, adultery, and male sequestration of females to assure their sexual fidelity."