Ato Boldon, Trinidad and Tobago’s greatest-ever sprinter and a globally revered broadcaster, has delivered a blistering critique of the nation’s monitor and discipline program, warning that the game is at its lowest ebb in historical past.
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Talking on iSports Saturday with Andre Errol Baptiste on i95.5FM, the four-time Olympic medallist declared bluntly:
“I’ve by no means seen it this dangerous.”
He positioned duty squarely on the shoulders of the Nationwide Affiliation of Athletic Administrations (NAAA), urging its management to take accountability for a steep decline that has seen the once-proud sprinting nation fade from common podium competition to “virtually a decade of nothing.”
Sponsorship fallout and relay collapse
Boldon stated it was no shock that the Nationwide Fuel Firm (NGC) just lately pulled the plug on its sponsorship of the NAAA, pointing to poor world outcomes because the inevitable trigger.
Nevertheless it was the decline of the relays—lengthy a trademark of T&T success—that drew his sharpest condemnation.
“T&T ladies’s relays are utterly irrelevant and males’s relays non-existent,” he charged.
He contrasted Trinidad and Tobago’s disorganization with the systematic preparation of different nations.
“Different international locations have cohesion amongst 4, 5, six or seven athletes, and for them it’s a query of plug and play,” he defined. “We obtained away with doing it the previous means for years through the Richard Thompson and Mark Burns period, when the relays have been at their peak. However these days are over.”
In one among his most vivid analogies, Boldon likened the present state of affairs to making an attempt to compete with outdated instruments:
“It’s now like we try to run a 100-meter sprint or play basketball in Converse or Chuck Taylor All-Star sneakers.”
Name for a nationwide coverage
Boldon insisted that solely a daring, structured strategy can reverse the slide.
“The NAAA wants a nationwide coverage that may assist to get the nation’s monitor and discipline again on monitor,” he asserted.
Whereas unsparing in his criticism, Boldon made it clear he’s not able to abandon hope. He pledged that if the NAAA demonstrates a real urge for food for reform, he could be open to returning in an advisory position.
“If issues change, I’ll contemplate giving my companies to the Affiliation to assist rebuild monitor and discipline in Trinidad,” he stated.
A flicker of success amid struggles
Trinidad and Tobago ended the latest World Championships with two medals—Keshorn Walcott claiming gold within the males’s javelin and Jereem Richards incomes silver within the 400m. However for Boldon, these remoted triumphs can not obscure the broader systemic decline.
