Ato Jabari Boldon | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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 Boldon at the Sydney 2000 Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Member of theSenate of Trinidad and Tobago | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| In office 14 February 2006 – 23 April 2007 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Preceded by | Roy Augustus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Succeeded by | Ronald Phillip[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal details | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | Ato Jabari Boldon (1973-12-30)30 December 1973 (age 51) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Nationality | Trinidadian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Political party | United National Congress | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Residence(s) | Florida,United States | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sports career | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 75 kg (165 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Sprinting | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 100 metres,200 metres | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| College team | UCLA | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sports achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbest(s) | 100 m: 9.86 s (Lausanne 1999) 200 m: 19.77 s (Stuttgart 1997) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Ato Jabari Boldon (born 30 December 1973) is a Trinidadian formertrack and field athlete, politician, and four-timeOlympic medal winner. He holds the Trinidad and Tobagonational record in the50,60 and200 metres events with times of 5.64, 6.49 and 19.77 seconds respectively, and also theCommonwealth Games record in the 100 m. He also held the 100 m national record at 9.86 s, having run it four times untilRichard Thompson ran 9.85 s on 13 August 2011.
After retiring from his track career, Boldon was anOppositionSenator in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament, representing theUnited National Congress from 2006 to 2007. Boldon works as anNBC Sports television broadcast analyst for track and field.
Boldon was born inPort of Spain,Trinidad and Tobago to aJamaican mother, andTrinidadian father, Hope and Guy Boldon. He attendedFatima College (secondary school) in Trinidad before leaving for theUnited States at age fourteen. In December 1989, as a soccer player atJamaica High School inQueens,New York City, head track and field coach Joe Trupiano noticed his sprinting abilities during a soccer practice session.[3][4]
In his first track season at age 16, Boldon finished with 21.20 seconds in the200 metres and 48.40 seconds in the400 metres, recording a double win at the Queens County Championships in 1990, and earningMVP honours. After transferring for his final year from Jamaica High toPiedmont Hills High School inSan Jose, California, Boldon was selected to the San Jose Mercury News' Santa Clara all-county soccer team. He also continued to sprint, placing third in the 200 m at theCIF California State Meet in 1991. Athletics became his primary focus and he won the Junior Olympic Title that summer inDurham, North Carolina, in 200 m.
At 18, Boldon representedTrinidad and Tobago at100 metres and 200 m in the1992 Summer Olympics inBarcelona but did not qualify in the first round of either event. Boldon returned to the junior circuit, winning the 100 m and 200 m titles at theIAAF World Junior Championships in Athletics inSeoul, South Korea to become the first double sprint champion in World Junior Championships history.
Boldon was also anNCAA Champion while enrolled as asociology major at theUniversity of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) in 1995 in the 200 m. In 1996, he secured an NCAA 100 m Championship inEugene, Oregon in the final race of his collegiate career, setting an NCAA meet record of 9.92.[5] Boldon also held the collegiate 100 m record with 9.90 s from 1996 until it was broken byTravis Padgett, who ran 9.89 s, in 2008.Ngonidzashe Makusha later equalled this record at the 2011 NCAA Championships inDes Moines,Iowa.[6]
Boldon won his first international senior-level medal at the1995 World Championships, taking home the bronze in the 100 m. At the time, he was the youngest athlete ever at 21 years of age to win a medal in that event. The following year at the1996 Summer Olympics, he again placed third in the 100 m and 200 m events, both behind world records. In 1997, he won the 200 m at theWorld Championships inAthens,Greece; his country's first world title in the Athletics World Championships. This made him one of only a few male sprinters to win both a World Junior and World Senior title.
The following year saw Boldon reaching the peak of his career, setting a new personal best and national record of 9.86 s in the 100 m at theMt. SAC Relays inWalnut, California on 19 April and repeating the feat inAthens on 17 June.[7] He picked up gold in the 100 m at the1998 Commonwealth Games held inKuala Lumpur,Malaysia, setting a record time of 9.88 s, beatingNamibia'sFrankie Fredericks (9.96 s) andBarbados'Obadele Thompson (10.00 s). The Commonwealth Games 100 m record remains unbroken.[8]
In 1999, Boldon ran 9.86 s twice in the 100 m before sustaining a serious hamstring injury which forced him to miss the World Championships in Seville – the only championship he missed in his career due to injury.
A silver medal in the 100 m and a bronze in the 200 m were Boldon's results of the2000 Summer Olympics, which was a personal victory, considering his comeback from a career-threatening injury the year before. This win made him the most successful individual Olympic medallist fromTrinidad and Tobago with four Olympic medals.
In 2001, Boldon tested positive at an early-season relay meet for the stimulantephedrine, and was given a warning, but was not suspended or sanctioned, since ephedrine is a substance found in many over the counter remedies, and Boldon had been treating a cold. "It is in no way something where the blame is laid on the athlete," saidIAAF General SecretaryIstván Gyulai of the positive result.
Also in 2001, at theWorld Championships in Edmonton,Alberta,Canada, Boldon finished fourth and out of the medals in the 100 m with 9.98 s, and then ran the second leg of his country's4 × 100 metres relay, finishing third in the finals. This wasTrinidad and Tobago's first 4 × 100 m relay medal in either World or Olympic competition and Boldon states that making national history with this team of young men (the average age of his teammates was 19) was his greatest accomplishment in his career. The colours of his2001 World Championship medals would change in 2005 as both his placings were improved – he received bronze in the 100 m and the bronze relay medals were upgraded to silver after all the times and performances of the American sprinterTim Montgomery (who was second in the 100 m and won the 4 × 100 m with the US team) were nullified due to serious doping violations. That brought Boldon's career total to four World Championship medals, to match his four Olympic medals.
Boldon was seriously injured in a head-on crash with a drunk driver inBarataria, Trinidad and Tobago, in July 2002, and never again ran sub-ten seconds in the 100 m or sub-twenty seconds for 200 m, something he had done on 37 separate occasions prior to 2002. In 2006, a judge in Trinidad found that Boldon was not at fault in that accident, and he was paid substantial damages as a result. That accident left Boldon with a serious hip injury, and he was a shadow of his former self as a sprinter. In 2004 at theAthens Olympic Games, he failed to advance out of the first round of the 100 m heats but captained his country's 4 × 100 m relay team to their first-ever Olympic final, where they finished seventh.
Boldon is the eighth person to win a medal forTrinidad and Tobago at the Olympics and currently has the third most wind-legal sub-10 second 100 m performances in history with 28, behind former training partnerMaurice Greene, who has 52, and Jamaica's former 100 m World Record holderAsafa Powell, who leads with 97.
On 20 April 2008The Observer published the contents of a letter believed to be by Boldon toJohn Smith, his former coach, accusing Smith,Maurice Greene of betraying him by obtaining banned drugs without his knowledge, lying about Greene competing without drugs and damaging his own career.[9] But for a quote on the matter to HellenicAthletes.com, a website he wrote for at the time, Boldon has had no further official comment.[10]
At the1999 World Championships inSeville,Spain, Boldon could not compete due to a serious injury. TheBritish Broadcasting Corporation hired him to do commentary and analysis for their coverage of those Championships. He proved popular with the audience and was invited back as a track-side analyst for the BBC coverage of theU.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in 2000, fromSacramento,California.
From 2005 to 2009, Boldon was in the broadcast booth for the US television networkCBS as part of their commentary team for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships. In June 2007, he made his debut forNBC Sports as an analyst for the 2007 US National Championships, and he also was an integral part of Versus and NBC's coverage of2007 Osaka World Championships. In 2008, he was the sprint analyst at the US Olympic Track and Field Trials and the2008 Summer Olympics forNBC Sports.[11] Boldon was widely praised for his NBC work by the press, including theLos Angeles Times,USA Today andThe New York Times which called him "one of NBC's best analysts, a blend of athletic smarts, charisma, precise analysis and brashness."[12] In 2010, Boldon joined the only U.S. track and field broadcast team he had not previously been a regular part of, ESPN, after the departure of their long-time analyst, Larry Rawson. In 2012, he continued his role as the NBC track and field analyst for the2012 Summer Olympics. In 2013, for his 2012 London Olympic commentary, Boldon became the first and only track and field broadcaster in US history to be nominated for a Sports Emmy Award. He was nominated in the category of Outstanding Sports Personality, Sports Event Analyst.Cris Collinsworth, his friend and colleague from NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football, eventually won the Emmy, his fifth win in a row. Alongside Tom Feuer, Boldon has served as a game analyst for Track & Field events for thePac-12 Network[13]
In 2017, Boldon joinedNASCAR on NBC's broadcast as a features contributor.[14]
Boldon was sworn in on 14 February 2006 as aSenator representing theOppositionUnited National Congress following the resignation of former Senator Roy Augustus, who resigned on 13 February in a dispute over the leadership style of then Leader of the OppositionBasdeo Panday. Boldon resigned on 11 April 2007 after 14 months as a senator, saying he had a role in sports broadcasting,[15] also citing issues with Panday's leadership ability.[citation needed]
In 2006, Boldon wrote, produced and directed a 73-minute DVD film entitledOnce in a Lifetime: Boldon in Bahrain which documented his voyage with fellow fans andTrinidad and Tobago nationals to theKingdom of Bahrain, where the country's soccer team, theSoca Warriors, defeatedBahrain 1–0 in a playoff to become the smallest country ever to qualify for theFIFA World Cup, qualifying to play at theGermany 2006 tournament.
Boldon began coachingKhalifa St. Fort around 2012 and helped her improve her 100 m from 12.3 to 11.5 seconds after one month. St. Fort won the silver medal at the2015 World Youth Championships in Athletics and a bronze in the relay at the2015 World Championships in Athletics.[16][17]
In 2000, Boldon was made a sports ambassador by theRepublic of Trinidad and Tobago and given a diplomatic passport. He is widely viewed as one of the all-time leading sportsmen in the history of theCaribbean, as well as one of its most internationally recognizable spokesmen. When Trinidad and Tobago hosted the2001 FIFA U-17 World Championship in association football, one of the new stadiums constructed for the tournament was located inCouva and namedAto Boldon Stadium. Thus Boldon became only the second island sprinter at the time to have a stadium named after him after the 1976 Olympic championHasely Crawford (Hasley Crawford Stadium located in the capitalPort of Spain).
Boldon is a qualified pilot, having earned his private pilot's license in August 2005. He is a member of theAOPA, Aircraft Owners and Pilot's Association.
On 4 November 2011, Boldon was inducted into theUCLA Athletics Hall of Fame.
| Date | Event | Venue | Time (seconds) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 16 February 2000 | 50 metres | Madrid, Spain | 5.64 (National record) |
| 23 February 1997 | 60 metres | Birmingham,United Kingdom | 6.49 (National record) |
| 19 April 1998, 17 June 1998, 16 June 1999, 2 July 1999 | 100 metres | Walnut,CA,Athens,Athens &Lausanne | 9.86 +1.8, −0.4, +0.1 & +0.4 (National record) |
| 13 July 1997 | 200 metres | Stuttgart,Germany | 19.77 (National record) |
As of September 2024, Boldon holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.
| Location | Time | Windspeed m/s | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kuala Lumpur | 9.88 | –0.1 | 17 September 1998 |
| Malmö | 10.03 | +4.2 | 7 August 2000 |
| Location | Time | Windspeed m/s | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Westwood | 20.00 | +1.0 | 19 May 1996 |
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men's 200 m Best Year Performance 1997–1998 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Men's 100 m Best Year Performance 1998–1999 | Succeeded by Maurice Greene |
| Olympic Games | ||
| Preceded by | Flagbearer for Trinidad and TobagoSydney 2000 Athens 2004 | Succeeded by |
| Political offices | ||
| Preceded by | Senator of Trinidad and Tobago 14 February 2006 – 11 April 2007 | Succeeded by |
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Commonwealth Games champions in men's100 metres | |
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| 100 yards (1930–1966) | |
| 100 metres (1970–present) |
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