Who will take up Boldon's baton?
By Garth Wattley
Story Created: Jul 13, 2011 at 1:00 AM ECT
Story Updated: Jul 13, 2011 at 1:00 AM ECT
The feet are moving fast again.The world over, running tracks and jumping pits from Rome to Kingston are full of activity as athletes do their thing.
Most of them are building up to next month's IAAF World Championships of track and field which will be held in Daegu, South Korea, from August 27 to September 4.
There really is no shortage of activity.
'World Championships' are now as run-of-the-mill as one-day international cricket matches. Almost every sport has them.
There is a world champion for everything, even for the American basketball league (Isn't it presumptuous for the NBA winners to be declared world champions?).
But boxing takes the cake. There can be a world title on the line virtually every month given the plethora of weight divisions and boxing organisations that have spawned over the years.
And with 24-hour television capturing almost everything international sport has to offer "live", it is easy not to bother too much with world championships. After all, the Olympics in London are coming up next year.
However, track and field's second biggest meeting—the World Champs—still catch my fancy. Maybe it is because of the great variety that exists. The track championships are a series of events within an event. It is like a mini Olympics.
For those who like the really fast action, there is the 100 metres which, especially because of Usain Bolt, is over well before you can count to ten!
But there is also the 400 metres, a fast one-lapper, a real lung-burster with strategy. But if you want a race of tactics and drama, try an 800 or 1,500 metres clash of the world's best.
It can also be a thing of beauty to see how jumpers soar through the air after sprinting into a leap, especially the triple jumpers. Then there is the human drama.
The range of emotions that success and failure can produce are writ large on the faces and in the body language of athletes when gold medals and records are on the line.
I can still see Michael Johnson's face, his eyes ready to pop out of his head, muscular arms spread wide and raised to the sky as he glanced at the electronic timer which read: "19.32" at the end of the 1996 Olympic 200 metres final in Atlanta.
Then there was Derek Redmond, the British quarter-miler whose hamstring failed him during his semi-final heat at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
His face was etched in the deep pain caused both by the injury and the dashing of his medal hopes. He limped to the finish line, his father coming onto the track to help him to get there.
It is hard not to empathise, even though you are watching by tube from thousands of miles away. The nature of track and field is such that it can suck you in emotionally.
The emotions can really get on edge when the athletes concerned are those in whom one has particular interest.
Ato Boldon's fast feet and glib speech made it impossible for people here to be passive onlookers once he stepped onto the track. In every World Championship or Olympic race in which he competed, Ato had thousands of people following his every rapid step. Things have not been the same since he left the stadium.
Yes, Richard Thompson has since emulated the Olympic 100 metres silver medal Boldon earned in Sydney in 2000 by getting one in Beijing three years ago.
And T&T have also earned 4x100 Olympic and World Champs silver and Worlds bronze in the 400 metres (Renny Quow) and 400 hurdles (Josanne Lucas) since Ato retired to the commentary booth.
As yet, though, no one has been able to take up the mantle of main medal hope.
Give it to Ato—whether or not he is your pick as the country's best-ever athlete—he has been the most consistent sprinter in local history.
The current bunch, as promising as some of their performances have been, will have much to do to get close to his record. And matching his charisma is a near impossibility.
Gold, however, produces sufficient sparkle of its own. The public will settle for just the wins.
But purely in terms of results, the past three years have been disappointing for T&T's male sprinters.
Thompson, who set the bar very high for himself in Beijing, is still not a consistent sub-ten man. He opened the current season with a windy 9.91 victory in Louisiana. But the "Torpedo" has not managed to earn gold since.
Instead, he has been forced to race behind a number of different opponents, mostly the fast men from Jamaica, his best since the 9.91 being 10.05 that got him fourth spot behind Asafa Powell (9.91), Nesta Carter (9.93) and Michael Frater (10.01) at the Aviva Grand Prix on Sunday.
Keston Bledman has had some brighter moments than the Torpedo in the 100m. He has dipped under 10 twice--a wind-assisted 9.99 and a legal 9.93 at a meet in Florida in May.
He also clocked 10.09 in Reims, France to finish behind Antiguan Daniel Bailey (10.05) and former Olympic champ Justin Gatlin (10.08). But to earn a medal in Daegu, even to get to the final, Bledman will have to up the pace even further.
The sprint relay looks T&T's best bet for a medal from the men at this stage, although a healthy Quow can never be discounted because of his sheer determination.
Jehue Gordon, whose 2011 preparations started late because of surgery last year, will take some time to get fully up to speed in the 400 hurdles.
At this point, therefore, Kelly-Ann Baptiste is the one who seems closest to taking up the baton from Ato.
She has been genuinely world-class this year. In four starts, Baptiste has won three times and two of those victories have come against quality opponents.
World No.1 Carmelita Jeter beat her at the Jamaica International Invitational in May, but Baptiste clocked 10.94 in finishing second. Since then, she has turned back Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart at the Areva meet this month (10.91) and has also won races in Reims (11.11) and Arkansas (11.56).
Baptiste only got to the semi-finals at the last World Championships in Berlin. In Daegu, though, she could have a much better time.
The next Ato Boldon may be taking on an entirely different form.
garth.wattley@trinidadexpress.com
