HASELY CRAWFORD

PAIN AFTER GLORY

Sunday Guardian

September 17, 2000

Page 21

As the 2000 Olympics test the mettle of world athletes, reporter Hyacinth Lewis, of Guardian's South Bureau, interviews Millennium Sportsman, Trinidad and Tobago's 1976 Olympic Medal winner, Hasely Crawford.

Hanging in the peach-coloured living room is a large picture of five runners racing towards the finish line, and the caption beneath reads: Pain, Power, Glory.

The words seem synonymous with the picture's owner, 1976 Olympic Gold Medallist, Hasely Crawford.

It is part of the palatial home in Federation Park. The home was presented to him by the then Government with other gifts and honorary awards for his accomplishment.

One may innocently assume Hasely would be reveling in all he has attained. But in reality, it is the "pain" that has become a permanent fixture in his life.

The former 100-metre champion is now battling physical deterioration of his body.

Though he strikes an impressive figure at six feet, three inches, without any hint of fat, he is on a special diet because he suffers with colitis - a condition that sometimes leaves his stomach swollen.

He walks with a limp every morning until his bad left knee can bear his weight. And it could take him as much as an hour just to get out of bed because of pain from a pinched sciatic nerve in his back.

Additionally, he said for many years he had wished and tried to have children, but it was only five years ago, at the age of 45, he was able to witness the joyous birth of his son, Harlan. Three years later another, little Halli, followed.

Hasely Crawford has no regrets.

He is not bitter about his ailments, nor does he seek pity. He made the decision to sacrifice his body to the rigorous demands of athletic training that enabled him to beat out seven other international athletes and claim the Olympic Gold medal in Montreal, Canada.

"My success came out of poverty," he said, "that was my driving force."

"We were very poor. I used to hate to see my Mom toiling to make ends meet. And I had only one good asset. I could run very fast and I was determined to use it to get ahead."

Because of this poverty, Crawford, who is the seventh of 11 siblings, started school late, at eight years old. He was unable "to catch up" with the other students, and so, failed his Common Entrance Exam.

The young Crawford thoroughly enjoyed any opportunity to exhibit his only talent, and relished all invitations to run at school. He was introduced to Zeno Constance, the man who would become his first coach. For seven years, Crawford trained with Constance.

But secretly, he was deeply distressed by his previous academic failures. So at age 16, he sought the help of a teacher named Horace Williams, who prepared him for the entrance examinations to attend the old San Fernando Technical School.

Shortly after graduating, Crawford accepted a job as a special apprentice at the Texaco Oil Co.

He still trained religiously, with a new coach named Wilton Jackson. And in 1970, at age 20, he was permitted to try out for the national team that would be selected for the CCC Games in Panama that same year.

Initially, his performance was far from impressive.

He claimed: "The officials had us all run in six inches of water. I slipped and came last, so I was disqualified from the selection."

But because of a major error made by the officials, Crawford was running again for a place on the team three weeks later. This time he won, but the officials believed it was "a fluke".

Their doubts were erased when they saw him win at the Texaco Southern Games a few days later.

It was at the British Empire Games (now called the Commonwealth Games) that Crawford received his big break into the world of athletic stardom.

"The Games were televised and the head coach of the Eastern Michigan University saw me and offered me a scholarship," he said in an interview last week.

There, Crawford's big chance almost ended when a back injury sustained whilst in Trinidad, left him constantly in pain and unable to compete for two seasons. He was paraded before a battery of doctors who could find nothing wrong with him.

"The doctors would say it is all in my head," he said.

"Meanwhile, my teammates believed I was lying. They called me a fake and thought I was afraid of running the races."

Crawford's coach finally issued an ultimatum: Shape up or ship out back to Trinidad.

But Crawford had the last laugh, when an old doctor he knew discovered the pinched sciatic nerve in his back. He was taught particular exercises which eased the pain. Then there was no stopping him.

In July 1972, Crawford returned to Trinidad, where he was selected as part of the national team for the Olympic Games then held in Munich, Germany. Crawford was about to learn a hard lesson. His body was not the invincible machine he had trained it to be. The pain from his troublesome back injury forced him to forfeit his race.

The next three years were extremely frustrating for Crawford.

He was taunted regularly by his American counterparts for losing the Olympics. But despite this, and the persistent back pains, by the end of 1975, he had won all major 100-metre races within the United States and Europe.

Crawford said: "Although I was running very well, I stopped running as much. I really believed that in the Olympic year, one had to pick their races carefully and conserve their energies."

"By the time the Olympics came around, I was confident that I would win. However, I could not sleep the week before my event. I read the Bible all the time and tried my best to remain calm."

And as the saying goes, the rest was history.

Dressed in a bright red vest with "Trinidad" emblazoned, coupled with blue shorts, long red/white and yellow-striped socks, Crawford crossed the finish line with upraised arms to win in magnificent style and form.

GAME OF EXCELLENCE

So naturally, Crawford was truly excited to be elected as the manager of the national track and field team for this year's Olympic Games in Australia. But he withdrew as a member of the delegation after legitimate concerns for the team went unheeded. He felt his efforts to assist were being snubbed.

He said: "The officials of the Trinidad & Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) wanted me to prepare a pre-Olympic tour, so I called my contacts in England, Los Angeles, and Australia."

"I also worked with the National Amateur Athletic Association (NAAA) president and prepared a budget. I then called the president of the TTOC, who directed me to the chef de mission, Larry Romany, who approved of the plans. I had everything finalized by April 30."

Crawford claimed there was an understanding that the athletes would arrive in Brisbane on September 15.

"But Romany told me to cancel the tour, since the TTOC had run into some financial problems. They did not go and ask the ministry (of Sports) for funds. But I informed all involved that my friend, Dr. Leroy Perry, who is a renowned physiotherapist, had contacted a business that was willing to cover all our expenses," he said.

"I have been to six Olympic Games - four as an athlete, one as a guest, and the last as an official at the Games, so I think I am equipped and qualified to understand what it takes to prepare an athlete for it. A pre-tour was essential."

Another issue Crawford took up with the TTOC was about the athletes themselves.

He said: "The Olympics is about excellence and the officials were talking about sending athletes to participate. You don't send an athlete to the Olympic Games to participate! It does not work like that. This is a very serious competition."

"Now if you are regularly running the basic standard competition time of 10.3 seconds in the 100-metre event, I have no quarrel with that, although you will stand no chance to win with that 10.3. But if an athlete is not running this standard 10.3 seconds, how can they be sent to the games?" Crawford asked.

He believes 80 percent of the track and field athletes were not running at their basic standard times, so he expects few to demonstrate good potential at the Games.

Yet he is confident Ato Boldon could win a medal.

But, he added: "I was not really satisfied with Ato's preparation for the Games. Ato needs to be more careful, too, and he should conserve his energies for the Games."

"However, Ato could win the 200 metres for sure. And he has what it takes to win the gold in the 100 metres, but I believe he is too obsessed with Maurice Greene."

"He is always trying so hard to beat Greene."

"Ato's problem is Ato, and when you are obsessed a an athlete over an opponent, you put additional and unnecessary pressure on yourself. This attitude would eventually work against him."

"Relaxation is the key for Ato. My advice to him is to just go out there ad do the best that he can in the finals. Anything can happen. Greene is definitely beatable."

Others whom Crawford thinks will excel are Marsha Mark and the previously injured Steve Brown and Wendell Williams.

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