Stay Ato, please don’t go now

The 2004 Olympics is now history!!! Or is it? Trinidad and Tobago earned a bronze medal through swimming not from track and field where the medals from 1964 all originated. That in itself must be a cause for celebration and the fact that George Bovell III did all of this, against the odds suggest that the future of swimming could be better with not only improved facilities but also a reliable and fair administration. Many are now suggesting, including several of those who attended the Olympics in Athens, that in Beijing, China come 2008, we are going to do even better. This though, we have heard before and while it sounds good and will generate a lot of applause and chest beating, is not going to increase our medal count.

We need for the people who control the various Olympic sports to get off their behinds and do the necessary work from now. They need to stop going to sleep for three years, while fighting to stay in charge of failing administrations and instead put together programmes that can guarantee at least our athletes will look competitive and show they belong on the Olympic stage. We are all fed up of hearing how dedicated the Jamaicans are, and how their programmes in sport are so well supported by their corporate sector, the government and most of all the public. In Trinidad and Tobago, we know the public is too laid back to let anything move them, until they are certain of success. So we have to work on other ways of getting support.

Naturally the Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee will have to be allowed to play a major role in these programmes, because their professionalism in all areas is something that will give creditability to each and every organisation. Amidst all that happened in Athens, besides the great performance of George Bovell III, we must acknowledge two young women who stood out like beacons among all other Caribbean athletes in very tough competition. In fact these two youngsters have gone into areas where previously other female Caribbean athletes were afraid of  —  they are Cleopatra Borel and Candice Scott. Given that financial support was extremely hard to acquire, their combined performances deserves recognition (let us hope it is forthcoming sometime soon).

Finance is a sore point with many of Trinidad and Tobago’s young athletes and I can recall after the Sagicor National Championships (not trials, as Ken Doldron does not like the obvious implication), many of them alluded to the reality that they had not received any financial support from their sporting federation or the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs. This has to be addressed carefully, because we have seen this season where some athletes who received funding for the Olympic Games of over $200,000 never made the team to Athens for one reason or another. So this money would have been better utilised in some team environment instead of in vain. Closer and more accurate communication between the National Amateur Athletic Association, Trinidad and Tobago Olympic Committee and the Ministry of Sport and Youth Affairs is needed.

Many callers to ISPORTS Saturday on I95.5FM Radio were annoyed with the performances of the female sprinters in Athens. In particular young Fana Ashby, who looked so comfortable in her success at the meet in the 100 metres in June, seemed to be a shadow of herself in Athens. This was a case of an athlete going backwards when the opposite was required and calls into effect her training, her diet and ultimately the management of the athlete. Foreign management, while good must be tempered with some local input as we saw with George Bovell III. And this is another critical role our sporting icons such as Hasely Crawford, Roger Gibbons, Gene Samuel, Edwin Skinner and others should be given. Now is the time so let us not allow this time to slip away without putting into place proper programmes for the future. As to Ato Boldon, I have a personal view that he should not have retired so soon. This has not been a good two years for him since the accident and he should have given himself more time to recover and participate at the World Championships.

But he more than anyone will know what is best for a man who has represented his country proudly and with distinction. His loss will not be easily replaced now or in the near future. Remember people four Olympic medals in sprinting is not easy and none was achieved on the back of a successful relay sprint team. Add the World Championships 200 metres gold medal and several sub-10 performances including a best ever 9.86 and you know Ato has nothing to prove. Yes he may have felt he disappointed some, but I know him, he has disappointed himself and there is only one way back for a man who prides himself on not giving in and not throwing in the towel. He has always stated that Frankie Fredericks was his hero and Frankie at 36, was fourth in the Olympic 200 metres final (and may have done better if he did not run three hard rounds of the 100 metres). So who knows the future, but certainly in terms of sprinting Ato Boldon is not too old and those who suffer themselves to write him off completely, do that at their own peril.

Whatever happens in the next three months before December will be critical to Ato Boldon. Let us stand behind him, as he did for all of us many times as the lone soldier out there on the track. Can we ask for anymore from one man who has given so much and has not been afraid to run and hide when criticise, like so many of our young or not so young sportsmen. In the  very popular western movie “Shane” , the little boy runs out at the end and says: “Come back, come back Shane”. Let us say “Come back, come back, come back Ato. This country loves you.”

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