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Boldon gets a lift from Agostini
SYDNEY, Sept 12 (AFP) - Mike Agostini may have regrets about narrowly missing out on an Olympic medal at the 1956 Games in Melbourne, but he hopes that his disappointment might benefit fellow Trinidadian sprinter Ato Boldon. Agostini was considered the fastest runner in the world competing 44 years ago, but a touch of complacency undermined his challenge and he finished fourth in the 200m and sixth in the 100m behind the dual winner Bobby Morrow of the USA. Now, as Trinidad's Honorary Consul-General in Australia and the national team's Olympic Attache, he is on hand to provide the experienced advice that could help Boldon avoid the same pitfalls. The contact between them goes back to Boldon's early collegiate career, when his father first asked Agostini for his input. Now Boldon stands on the verge of emulating Hasely Crawford, who won the Olympic 100m title in Montreal in 1976 for Trinidad. "Our entire country is watching and hoping that Ato can become a gold medallist" says Agostini, now 65. "The national expectation can be a burden but it is also the source of great pride." Boldon is said to be staying at a secret location away from the Olympic Village in Sydney as he prepares with his coach John Smith to erase his disillusionment at bronze medals in the 100m and 200m in Atlanta four years ago. That was when he set the unenviable record of becoming the fastest ever third place finisher in both events, behind the world record times of the winners, Donovan Bailey and Michael Johnson respectively. Boldon's highly focused training routine in Sydney is somewhat different from Agostini's time in Melbourne in 1956, when, despite the Suez Crisis and Cold War tensions, security was far less oppressive. "Local people could visit the Olympic Village and register to pick up teams and team members whom they would take home for dinner and a bit of Australian hospitality" recalls Agostini. "It was truely a friendly Games. The MCG (Melbourne Cricket Ground), the crowds and the atmosphere were fabulous. Only the new cinder-type track with its unusual reddish-brown colour was jokingly referred to as running in hell." He subsequently fell in love with Australia and emigrated after marrying an Australian. They met thanks to the Olympics, on an aeroplane on the way to the 1960 Games in Rome. At the 2000 event in Sydney they have established a mini-dynasty of Olympic Attaches, as two sons are involved with the Antiguan and Dominican Republic teams respectively, while a brother-in-law assists the Jamaicans.
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