Anthony Foster, Freelance Writer

Olympians Olympians Ato Boldon of Trinidad & Tobago and American Torrie Edwards will be in action at today's Douglas Forrest Invitational Track & field meet at the National Stadium East Complex, which is expected to attract over 2,500 athletes.

However, the two, along with Simone Forbes who helped Jamaica to third place at the World Netball Championships last year, will only be meeting, chatting and signing autographs for athletes and fans.

Boldon, who won the 200m silver and 100m bronze medals for Trinidad & Tobago at the Sydney Olympics, will also be scouting talent, which is his second job.

"This visit serves two purposes, one is to be in Jamaica" noted Boldon whsays he'll be looking at athletes like Yohan Blake.

"It's to get guys like that on my radar and look on how these guys are developing," added, Boldon, who also won 100m and 200m bronze medals at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.

The organising committee, headed by Brian Smith, says it decided on these athletes because youngsters will get a chance to interact with them.

"We believe if we can bring these people here to Jamaica and they can interact with them, they just might learn a thing or two and that is why we're going for them," said Smith.

overseas attraction

The meet will also attract some overseas teams. Star Trackers and Road Runners clubs from Bahamas will carry 25 and 18 athletes respectively, while 15 are down to come from Cayman Islands, 12 from Turks and Caicos Islands and 10 each from Miami Dade County in Florida and Curacao.

The events to be contested this year are: 200m, 400m, 800m, 3000m, 5000m, relays, shot put and all jumps.

Last year over 2,500 athletes participated and according to Smith, more are expected this time around. Most of the island's top high schools in Calabar, St. Jago, Jamaica College, Kingston College, Herbert Morrison, St. Andrew, Immaculate, Wolmer's and Queens are expected to compete.