Don Anderson - File

Still on a high from Jamaica's historic 12-medal haul at the recently staged London Olympic Games, Don Anderson, the man who served as the country's head of delegation in the England capital, has already charted even greater success at the next instalment.

Truthfully, it's hardly surprising that the Jamaica Olympic Association first vice-president is already making projections given his reputation as the island's top market researcher.

Led by double sprint champion Usain Bolt and female 100m champion and 200m silver medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Jamaica's athletes left the Olympic Games with 12 medals, of the gold, silver and bronze variant, bettering their 11-medal return from the previous Olympic Games held in Beijing, China, four years earlier.

In Anderson's assessment, the country's improved showing was always on the cards and he is expecting the trend to continue when sports' greatest show makes its stop in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, in 2016.

"Rio will be better I believe; and as you know I am a market researcher so I believe in trends," Anderson stating as a premise for his prediction.

"We did well In Sydney (2000), we did well in Athens (2004) and we did very well in Beijing (2008), we did better in London and I believe that building on that trend, I would expect us to do better in Rio," Anderson said.

"It will demand a concerted effort from the Government, private sector and individuals. There is no doubt that the athletes will work hard but if we pool our resources, I believe that Jamaica will be extremely proud after the Rio Olympics in 2016," he added.

Anderson, who has said since his return from London, that he would love to see Jamaica qualify for 10 events at the next Olympic Games, also noted that he believes that more respect is gradually being given to the athletes for their achievements.

"There is no question that the Government understands that we are at a place where you have to begin to show the athletes in a very tangible way that we appreciate the work that they do, because everybody knows that they put in a tremendous amount of work and therefore we believe are at a stage where we will see a change in the way the athletes are looked at," Anderson said. "There will be a lot more respect for the athletes and one thing is sure, there is nothing that gets us to the top of the world stage like sports."

Minister without Portfolio in the Office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for Sports, Natalie Neita-Headley, recently announced that the Government will offer cash incentives to all the athletes who represented the country at the Olympic Games.