Boldon under fire for comments on times

In comments posted on his Web site Boldon, who retired last year charged that the sub-ten seconds timing recorded by young stars Marc Burns and Darrel Brown were not legitimate.

In recording the first ever legal sub-ten seconds 100 metres race in Trinidad and Tobago, Burns hit the tape in 9.96 seconds to head home Brown, silver medallist at the World Championships last year, who was clocked in 9.99 seconds on Saturday. Aaron Armstrong was third in 10.04 seconds his personal best, while Jacey Harper fourth in 10.10.

Brown and Burns joined Boldon as the only three TT athletes to go under the ten-second barrier over the distance.

But Boldon was unimpressed, stating that the top finishers all recorded personal bests but felt their fast times were not authentic, "sorry folks, 10.10 in fourth no for Harper.

"Everyone in the same race runs a PR. I have been around the sport way too long not to be able to fish this one out...something is not legit..." Boldon stated on his website.

He goes on to say, "Harper has run 10.4 and 10.5 all year but finds 0.3 of a second suddenly?

"Brown struggled all year at 10.02 suddenly a PR 9.99? — 10.03 for Armstrong who? No way," Boldon stated.

He claimed that his criticism was not a case of an "old dog hating the new dogs" because he said he has praised many new dogs, and went on record as saying that none of the sprinters will match their records set at the Sagicor senior championships.

In an immediate reaction, NAAA public relations officer Peter Samuel said Boldon’s comment was "ludicrous" as the former world rated sprinter was "wrong."

Speaking on Power 102 FM radio yesterday to talk-show host Anil Roberts, Samuel said that Boldon did not get his facts right and his charges that the times were not legitimate were "ridiculous."

The PRO said that for the first time in the history of track and field in TT everything was in place to ensure that all times were certified.

"The Hasely Crawford Stadium track was recently certified according to the international system — more than 25 pages of documents that we needed to follow," Samuel said.

The NAAA official said that following controversy last year concerning the false start, the organisation invested in block centres which arrived on time for the 100 metres race.

"We had officials who were trained in operating and monitoring the block centres including David Cumberbatch and Allan Baboolal," said Samuel.

"Additionally," he said, "two cameras were also installed to capture photo finishing and the cameras were recalibrated after the junior champs a week earlier to ensure they were accurate."

Samuel also discounted any claim that the computerised time recording system could be tampered with since they were built-in checks which would indicate any effort to input data or change the times.

"Everything was above board. Boldon should be happy for the athletes."