Doldron ‘distressed’ by Ato’s comments

Boldon who earned medals at the Olympics in Atlanta and Sydney, said on his website the times recorded by sprinters Marc Burns (9.96), Darrel Brown (9.99), Aaron Armstrong (10.04) and Jacey Harper (10.10) were "not right".

But at a media conference yesterday at the Sagicor office, Queen’s Park West, Port-of-Spain , NAAA president Ken Dodron said he was distressed with the comments by Boldon.

Doldron, a former Defence Force officer said the NAAA "had gone the distance to put everything in place for the championships."

He said it cost the NAAA over $200,000 to get the entire process in order, which included starting sensors and photo-finish cameras at the finish line, at a cost that was taken up by the Sports Company of Trinidad and Tobago (SCOTT).

Doldron stressed the Links system sourced from the United States earlier this year was sent back just before the championships to be re-calibrated.

He said when that was done by the Boston-based company, they received a document which stated that the tracks had met all the requirements for it to be certified which was duly done.

In addition Doldron said two of this country’s top officials were also sent on a training course in Puerto Rico to learn to operate the system for major championship games.

"Therefore it really was not nice to be slapped in the face with such comments after what they went through," he said.

Doldron claimed further that apart from the $200,000 spent on the entire system, his association had also spent $20,000 for random drug testing to be done at the games.

He noted that 15 tests were done and sent to a laboratory in Canada on Tuesday of this week.

The results he said are expected to be back by next Wednesday.

Boldon’s comments, he said, were seen all over the world on the internet which meant that it painted not only the country in a bad light but also the federation.

Ironically, the NAAA only yesterday announced that the retired sprinter had rescinded his offer to work with the development of the country’s track and field team due to other commitments overseas. Doldron said that while his association has not yet received any calls from the International body, he does expect them to be a bit concerned.

The news, he said, also did not go down to well with sprinters Brown and Burns who have been hard-hit by the comments, from which they have been deriving their own form of motivation for the future.

The duo will now be among a number of athletes who will journey to the Bahamas for the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Senior Games.

Sprinter Fana Ashby and Ato Modibo are also among a select few who will be travelling to the Bahamas ahead of time.

The NAAA public relations officer Peter Samuels said the team for the CAC Games and for the Pan American Championship were ratified last night, and will be released today. They will leave on July 7.