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Banking on experience Boldon hopes to emerge from Greene's shadow
Posted: Thursday March 16, 2000 01:32 PM
.By Ken Klavon, CNNSI.com
At 26, Ato Boldon is a grizzled Olympic veteran. If he stays on target, Boldon will appear in his third Summer Games this September in Sydney. "Anything that can be done at the Olympics, I've done," Boldon says, "except win an Olympic gold medal." At the '96 Atlanta Games, he came close, with a bronze medal performances in record-setting 100- and 200-meter races. But other than a 1997 world title in the 200, Boldon has remained largely in the shadows of training partner Maurice Greene. "Careerwise he's setting the pace. And he's set a pace I think I need to catch up to this year," Boldon says.
In 1998 he was the first to seriously threaten Donovan Bailey's 9.84 100-meter world record, with a 9.86. When he won the 200-meter title in '97, he did so with a personal-best 19.77.
"I have to head to Sydney with a little bit more maturity. In both races [at the '96 Olympics], really the only thing missing was experience," Boldon says. At the 2000 Games, Boldon will have a formidable fight on his hands in both the 100 and 200 meters. Greene and Michael Johnson, bitter rivals, are expected to be the favorites. "I'm all for the Maurice Greene- Michael Johnson rivalry," Boldon says. "If I get Michael and Maurice to focus on each other, then it does improve my chances." Boldon is trying to forget about injury-plagued '98 and '99 seasons. He is also no longer fixated on breaking records. "The only objective is: go to Sydney; run those rounds of the 100 and 200
meters; and take two gold medals back to Trinidad," he says.
"Everything else is
details."
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