Ato Boldon said something stupid today
Ato Boldon answered a question from Bob Costas about Usain Bolt’s terrific 100m world record run at the beginning of NBC’s primetime coverage on Monday night.
Costas: “How in the world was he able to run 9.69?”
Boldon: “I haven’t had a chance to really wrap my mind around it yet, but a lot of people are just still awestruck by what he was able to do. We just didn’t think that someone that tall would be able to run that sort of time. And… uh… just a great performance, and so far the performance, by far, of these Games.“
By far? Mr. Boldon, I’d like to introduce you to Michael Phelps. Not sure if you’ve heard, but he had a pretty good week in the pool.
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Posted in: Swimming, The Olympics
Tags: Ato Boldon, eight gold medals, Michael Phelps, stupid comment, Usain Bolt
That’s hilarious. Bolt’s performance was stunning, but this year he’ll have to settle for #2 behind Phelps.
Well, as far as single-race performances go, Bolt may have surpassed anything Phelps did in the pool. Sure, Phelps is THE story of these games, no doubt, but T&F is a more universal sport than swimming, and breaking the 100M world record with no measurable wind is astounding. When you add to the fact that records were being shattered in seemingly every swimming event this year, I don’t think Boldon’s comment was so out of line.
These games will forever be remembered for Phelps’ overall accomplishments, but Bolt may very well have delivered the most impressive single-race performance.
If that’s what he meant, that’s what he should have said. And the “by far” needs to go.
I still say that Bolt’s showboating at the end of the 100m made it less impressive.
Sure, “by far” may have been over the top, but I still don’t think he misspoke:
“…just a great performance, and so far the performance, by far, of these Games.”
Maybe a clarification was in order, but what he said could have been (and, just on this board, has been) interpreted in several different ways. If anything, Costas should have asked the seemingly obvious follow-up question by making Boldon clarify what he meant.
Yeah, I agree with John. But after hearing how so many of these former athletes speak, I’m not surprised that they use shaky language to express what they intend to say. Granted, many of these commentators are from foreign countries where English may not be their main language and idiomatic phrases could be misconstrued. However, some of them, you have to wonder how much grammar school they missed, or how many times their heads clipped the diving board.
Chris – good point. Boldon ran for Trinidad & Tobago (I believe). That said, if he can’t properly make his point, maybe he shouldn’t be NBC’s main track and field color commentator.
I don’t have any problem with him. I just think it was a dumb comment.
It’s a dumb comment because you don’t agree with him? I’m sure there are a lot of T&F athletes (especially sprinters) who would agree that his race was the best single performance of the games.
Yes, I believe it’s a dumb comment because I don’t agree with him. If he was talking about a single performance then he should have said that, and he should have left out “by far.”
I guess we’re parsing words here. When I hear the word “performance” I believe that includes all of what Michael Phelps did in the pool.
You guys have got to be kidding me. You are disecting every word the man said. He is a track & field commentator for crying out loud. If you guys can do better go ahead. Like always, good for some but not for others.
You know I am not going to comment on this low life asswipe mediocre demeanor of person but it’s all about jealousy so leave him let him make his lowsy comment he is forgotten it will only fall on deaf hears.
They both performed Astoundingly but u have to say that Phelps was the man of the Olympics. Bolt’s performance was the best single performance as u guys said. Did you all see the huge gap? And he started celebrating even before he finished the race. That says a lot, obviously he can run faster…
Oh and by the way I’m from Trinidad and even I hate Ato Boldon. He’s such an idiot, so arrogant.
First off, English is spoken in Trinidad and Tobago….shaky language and idiomatic phrases???? Boldon did a fine job. I have heard more unintelligent comments from Bob Costas, an AMERICAN, throughout these Olympics than anyone else…. Boldon is a commentator for TRACK AND FIELD. He is talking about TRACK AND FIELD, folks!!!!
Ato ‘s good compared to Bob Costas’ dumb comments include:
“She’s looking a little bit worse than she looks normaly, which is bad”
“this will be a race from start to finish”
“you have to work hard in an olympic final”
“Isn’t it fantastic to see a white American win a sprint race”???!!??!!
“he is hoping for olympic gold”
“his hope for olympic gold is over for a year”
“You can’t look past the Americans (accompanied by a camera shot looking past the USA into lane 3 ) There the Nigerians…. but you can’t look past the Americans”
Please! Swimming commentary was rubbish! Rowdy Gaines was really awful. He commented Michael Phelps was overcoming “diversity” because of water in his goggles. Uhhhh, the word is “adversity”, Mr. American Olympic Champion!
Leave Ato alone, seriously!
I didn’t say Ato did a bad job overall, I merely criticized the fact that he called Bolt’s 100m race THE performance of the Olympic Games… by far.
And I’m not talking about people misspeaking in the heat of the moment. That’s going to happen. It happened to Costas and to Gaines and I’m sure Boldon misspoke several times during the T&F events. I am talking about a point that he intentionally tried to get across.
In Boldon’s defense, he did go on to say several times over the next two of Bolt’s races that it was the greatest “track & field” performance, so I do give him credit for that.
Silver Wolf and Ray I’m sue Ato gives 2 shits what u think. Haters
phelps whoooo?!!!!Ato is totally correct
If anyone thinks in their wildest dreams that Usain Bolt was not THE performance of the games they a/ must be American and b/ Must be American. Bolt did something that no one thought was possible in THE event of every Olympics. Sure Phelps was phenomenal in winning his medals but comparing Swimming to Athletics Blue Riband event and becoming the fastest of all time, in the way he achieved at and then goes to do the same in the 200m, that is something amazing to date in the history of mankind not just the Olympics.
I disagree, and it has nothing to do with my nationality. Bolt had to do one thing in these games: sprint. Phelps had to swim all four strokes, compete in both sprint and endurance races, and deal with the constant media attention and pressure. I don’t think Bolt was under the same microscope or had to run so many different types of races. He certainly had the best track & field performance of these games and is no doubt the fastest man in the world, but the Bejing Games will be remembered for what happened in the pool, and to a lesser extent, on the track.
It’s subjective, I guess.
This is ridiculous. Those complaining about his use of language are really out of their minds. Which athlete won a race not running at full speed all the way and celebrating before winning beating the old record by such a margin? Are you kidding me? Phelps did not beat his records by such a comparative margin if any of you know anything about athletics. As far as an individual performance, yes it was the best of the Olympics as he showed how superior he was to his opponents. Especially the 200m where he ran into a headwind. Clearly the people complaining are US citizens.
It has been two years now, and no one’s talking about Michael Phelps at all all of this year, all I have heard is Usain people don’t care about Michael Phelps around the world. American like to think that just because he won more gold that is performance were greater than bolt eeerr negative. People came to see the highlight of the Olympics and that’s alway going the the mens 100 meter race period. we watch to see the world’s fastest man and woman.