Boldon ready to work with NAAA

FORMER world 200 metres sprint champion Ato Boldon said yesterday he is ready to work with the National Amateur Athletics Association for the development of track and field in Trinidad and Tobago. This new relationship between the quadruple Olympic medallist and the Ken Doldron-led organisation will be cemented today when the NAAA host their Annual Awards and Prize Distribution Function at the Crowne Plaza, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain from 4 pm.

Highlight of the function will be a presentation to Boldon for his outstanding contribution to athletics over the past decade. But the association of the Los Angeles, US-based sprint star and the NAAA has not always been cosy. Boldon, who is on a short visit to his homeland, yesterday admitted that he has been a vocal critic of the organisation over the years but is not surprised that he will be the focus of their adulation and gratitude. “I am obviously very honoured. Over the years I have been very critical of them and what this goes to show if anything is that they have realised it wasn’t personal. I was just doing my job which I am passionate about,” said Boldon. And he readily admitted that he needs the co-operation of the governing body to successfully realise his plans and ambitions to give something back to the sport in Trinidad and Tobago. “The fallout is all in the past and it’s time to bury the hatchet,” said the 1997 World Championships 200-metres winner.

Boldon retired from track and field after failing to advance from the first round of the 100 metres at the Athens Olympic Games in July and now plans to assist young, promising talent in the land of his birth. “I want to use my connections in the world of track and field to open channels for the youngsters. I hope to get some big names here to intereact with the athletes and communicate with and motivate them,” said Boldon. He also plans an exchange programme to take outstanding performers to the US. “Apart from training and competition, I want to emphasise motivation and inspiration,’’ said Boldon, a former World Junior 100 and 200 metres champion. He said years after he brought Maurice Greene, his former training partner and ex-world record holder in the 100 metres; Dennis Mitchell and Jose-Maria Perec, the Guadeloupe-born French 400 metres runner here he was still being reminded of the great impression they made on the minds of the young athletes.

Boldon, who earned medals at the Atlanta (1996) and Sydney Games (2000) said that he has been catching up on all the things he could not do when he was concentrating on training and competing on the track. Among his latest achievements has been progress towards gaining his private pilot’s licence in Los Angeles, California where he lives. “I am doing many things that I did not have the time to do and I am thinking carefully about my next move since I have had several offers,” said Boldon. And he said that although he did not have any regrets about his career on the track he would have loved to have won a gold medal for Trinidad and Tobago’s at the Olynmpic Games. But he insists that no gold medal will ever mean more to him than doing his best at representing Trinidad and Tobago throughout the world. “It means more to me to have acted as an ambassador for my country and to have put it on the map with my achievements on the track,”said Boldon.