Profiles: Heroes, Role Models and Pioneers of Trinidad and Tobago - by Nasser Khan

153 list of feats and records: five-time NCAA Champion, five-time Pan Am Games Medalist (2 Gold, 2 Silver, 1 Bronze), seven-time World Championship finalist, eight-time Individual SEC Champion, two-time Caribbean and Central American Champion, most All American Honors in Auburn history with 25, multiple Caribbean and Central American record holder, four-time NCAA Team Champion, undefeated in college swimming career. In 2009 he broke the World Championships Record and became the fourth fastest man in history in the 50 meters freestyle. Bovell finished up the 2010 season with excellent performances at the World Championships in Dubai, finishing 4th in the 100 m IM and 10th in 50m free. • 2004 Chaconia Medal Gold AHAMAD CHARLES (1916-1973) C harles was an all-round sportsman who started off as a cyclist as a teenager at the then Siparia Recreation Ground and soon became a boy hero in his community. In 1934 at the age of 18 he competed in a West Indies Olympiad held in British Guiana emerging as one of the best Caribbean cyclists, beating all challengers to the finish line winning the two-mile championship. Back in Trinidad and Tobago, he became more popular as the crowds came out to see him pedal his way past all rivals. He represented T&T in Barbados, Jamaica and of course here at home at the Queen’s Park Oval. In 1936, at the annual cycle and athletics sports meeting of the Queen’s Park Cricket Club, he defeated all competitors with his bursts of finishing speed. At this Championship two-day event he won the half-mile, the one-mile, the two-mile, the three-mile championship event, a special five-mile event, and the nine- mile event! He was also talented at football, which he loved playing. But even though he also thrilled Caribbean spectators as a centre-forward, cycling always occupied more of his energies. Sadly, when he was only 20, he was medically advised against cycling because of a heart condition. But even though he continued riding, 1939 was to be his final year of riding because of the condition.