If a Maltese athlete ever wants to win a gold medal in the Olympic Games, the person has to start believing in him/herself from the very start of a career and that winning at the highest level is not only possible but achievable.
This was the message hammered home by legendary Italian marathon runner and Olympic gold medalist Gelindo Bordin who is on a visit to Malta in his role as sporting ambassador for the popular Italian sports brand, Diadora.
On Monday, Bordin trained with a number of local athletes at the Mellieha Athletics Club and commented on the high standards of performance and potential. He is also currently discussing methods and techniques which can be used to further the results and achievements on the local track field.
Quizzed by journalists on his change from active sport participating to a marketing role, the genial Bordin joked that he rather more enjoyed the former than the latter.
"It’s an honour for me to be here in Malta and although I enjoy the marketing role I have with Diadora, my first love is still running. My marketing roots go back to the times when I was still an athlete working with ASICS on the development of running shoes for the 1987 Athletics World Championships. When I retired in 1993, Diadora called me and asked if I would be interested in taking up a marketing role with their company. I decided to take it on and so far have found it challenging but also very rewarding".
Bordin insisted that even if Malta is a small country, any small amount of talent can make it to the top if caught early and nurtured properly. He also lamented the ever growing gap between African and European athletes in long distance track events.
"Talent is very important but that alone is not enough. You have to start training and have a goal of success in your mind from an early age. The situation in Europe is very worrying for me as you rarely see any European athlete coming close to the Africans in long distance events and this gap is growing all the time. If we are going to start doing something about it then we will have to begin changing the mindset of our national associations who are still stuck in the past. There is a big problem with youths who do not want to train hard for years without immediate financial rewards".
Bordin said that Malta needs to aim higher if it wants to start achieving real results and he said that it was possible to register big improvements if the right methods were used. Mellieha Athletic Club also presented Bordin with a commemorative plaque making him Honorary President of the association.