PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, CMC – Ato Boldon believes that the cancellation of the Caribbean Games this year may have been a blessing in disguise.

But the former Trinidad & Tobago track star told the Trinidad Express newspaper yesterday that organisers should push again to stage the event in the two-island republic next year.

“To have [the Games] the same year as you’re having a [track & field] World Championships is probably not the best thing,” Boldon told the newspaper.

“Maybe, it can fill the void that exists when you don’t have major championships. So if you put it next year, there’s no Worlds, no Olympics. I would certainly (lobby) for them to have it next year.”

Boldon has been one of the ambassadors for the Games, and described the cancellation as “unfortunate”.

“I don’t think the idea [of the Games] will die,” he said. “I think they will move it, possibly to next year. I don’t think it will go away.

“The reasons for having the Games are still valid, whether it is swine flu, the economy, whatever, now clearly is not the right time and you have to respect that decision.”

But Boldon hopes that organisers will make a quick decision about staging the Games, and market the event heavily throughout the region, so that it becomes a major attraction.

“They have to come big,” he said. “We’re going to have to come very, very seriously, and with a major, major thrust because people are going to think, ‘yeah, yeah, yeah, that it didn’t happen this time’.

“[The Games] could still happen, but they’re going to have to do a good job of convincing people that this time it’s going to stick.”

Boldon feels the staging of a Caribbean Games is vital to the regional sports landscape, so that fans can see the best athletes of the region competing in one place.

“If I wanted to [see the best athletes in the Caribbean], I would have to go to the Jamaica national championships, the Bahamian championships, the Trinidad championships, and so on,” he said.
“So the need exists, and the need is not going to go away, and that’s why I say, I don’t think [the Games] are going to go away, I think it’s just going to be postponed for now.”

Organisers announced on Friday the cancellation of the first ever Caribbean Games in T&T next month, blaming the spread of swine flu for the decision.