Page 22 - Team TTO PARIS 2024
P. 22

Carter catapulted himself into senior swimming almost
            seamlessly. Later in 2016, the University of Southern
            California graduate revealed his prowess at short
            course (25m) swimming, earning a fourth place in the
            men’s 200m freestyle and seventh in the 50m butterfly
            at the World Short Course Swimming Championships in
            Canada.

            After securing five medals (three gold, one silver, one
            bronze) at the 2018 Barranquilla Central American and
            Caribbean Games, he followed up with the country’s first
            and only Commonwealth Games swimming medal
            (silver in the men’s 50m butterfly) at the Gold Coast-
            competition.                                       In many respects, Bovell was the man to pioneer TTO
                                                               elite-level medal-winning swimming following a
            Carter also earned bronze in his off-event, the men’s   late-blooming age-group career. After making his
            100m backstroke, at the 2019 Pan Am Games in Lima,   Olympic debut at the 2000 Sydney Games – at the age
            Peru.                                              of 17 – in the 50m freestyle, and the 200 and 400m
                                                               individual medley (IM) events, Bovell announced himself
            Things didn’t go as swimmingly at the Covid 19-delayed   to the world when he barely missed out on a podium
            2020 Tokyo Games where he swam four events with his   finish (4th) at the 2001 Fukuoka FINA (now World
            best finish being a 22nd-place spot in the men’s 100m   Aquatics) World Championships.
            free. But at the World Short Course later that year, he
            secured a silver in the men’s 50m butterfly, the best ever   In 2003 - and putting his maiden 1999 Winnipeg Pan Am
            performance by a TTO swimmer in that format.       Games experience at the age of 16 to good use, Bovell
                                                               dashed his way to TTO Pan Am Games history when he
            Attempting to claim his first medal in the longer course,   won four medals (two gold, two silver) at the Santo
            Carter fell disappointingly just short of the podium when   Domingo-hosted Games.
            he was fourth in the men’s 50m butterfly in Gwangju,
            South Korea for the World Championships.           He would only manage a fifth-place finish at the 2003
                                                               World Championships in the men’s 200 IM but he would
            He rebounded spectacularly during the 2022 FINA    attain the pinnacle of his swimming feats in the 2004
            Swimming World Cup circuit, being named the overall   Olympic year.
            male winner after winning nine gold medals – including
            breaking the national records in the 50m free, back and fly   At that year’s NCAA Men’s Division 1 Swimming and
            several times – and amassing US $150,000 in prize   Diving Championships - staged for the first time in a
            money.  PHOTO  - FINIS/Dexter Browne               25m course as opposed to the traditional 25-yard ones
                                                               used in collegiate competition - Bovell signalled his
            At the Berlin, Germany, World Short Course, he continued   Olympic intentions, breaking a world record for the
            his excellence in the shorter format, collecting another   200m IM (1:53.93), as he easily lifted the title.
            medal - this time a bronze - in the men’s 50m freestyle.
                                                                                              Then onto Athens,
            In 2023 Carter was excellent at the regional level;                                Greece - the
            replicating exactly his 2018 returns (five medals - three                            birthplace of the
            gold, one silver, one bronze). At the global level he                               modern
            fared less well, taking fifth and 15th respectively                                  Olympics –
            in the men’s 50m butterfly and 50m free
            respectively.

            Swimming aficionados are impressed by Carter’s
            consistency and are positive he can mount a strong
            podium challenge in Parisand hopefully, follow in
            Bovell’s medal-winning footsteps.

                                                               Mark Pouchet is a sports journalist and swim coach in Trinidad and Tobago.




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