Ato Jabari Boldon (born 30 December 1973) is a Trinidadian former track and field athlete, politician, and four-time Olympic medal winner.
After retiring from his track career, Boldon was an Opposition Senator in the Trinidad and Tobago Parliament, representing the United National Congress from 2006–2007.
He attended Fatima College (secondary school) in Trinidad before leaving for the United States at age fourteen.
[7] He picked up gold in the 100 m at the 1998 Commonwealth Games held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, setting a record time of 9.88 s, beating Namibia's Frankie Fredericks (9.96 s) and Barbados' Obadele Thompson (10.00 s).
A silver medal in the 100 m and a bronze in the 200 m were Boldon's results of the 2000 Summer Olympics, which was a personal victory, considering his comeback from a career-threatening injury the year before.
This was Trinidad and Tobago's first 4 x 100 m relay medal in either World or Olympic competition and Boldon states that making national history with this team of young men (the average age of his teammates was 19) was his greatest accomplishment in his career.
The colours of his 2001 World Championship medals would change in 2005 as both his placings were improved – he received bronze in the 100 m and the bronze relay medals were upgraded to silver after all the times and performances of the American sprinter Tim Montgomery (who was second in the 100 m and won the 4 x 100 m with the US team) were nullified due to serious doping violations.
Boldon is the eighth person to win a medal for Trinidad and Tobago at the Olympics and currently has the third most wind-legal sub-10 second 100 m performances in history with 28, behind former training partner Maurice Greene, who has 52, and Jamaica's former 100 m World Record holder Asafa Powell, who leads with 97.
He proved popular with the audience and was invited back as a track-side analyst for the BBC coverage of the U.S. Olympic Track and Field Trials in 2000, from Sacramento, California.
From 2005 to 2009, Boldon was in the broadcast booth for the US television network CBS as part of their commentary team for the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships.
"[12] In 2010, Boldon joined the only U.S. track and field broadcast team he had not previously been a regular part of, ESPN, after the departure of their long-time analyst, Larry Rawson.
In 2013, for his 2012 London Olympic commentary, Boldon became the first and only track and field broadcaster in US history to be nominated for a Sports Emmy Award.
Cris Collinsworth, his friend and colleague from NBC Sports' Sunday Night Football, eventually won the Emmy, his fifth win in a row.
Boldon resigned on 11 April 2007 after 14 months as a senator, saying he had a role in sports broacasting,[15] also citing issues with Panday's leadership ability.