media_centre :: 2011

Ali St Louis gone too soon

Kwame Laurence :: Trinidad Express Newspapers :: 27.09.2011

The local track and field fraternity is in mourning, following the death of Ali St Louis, on Sunday night. The former Olympian was killed in a vehicular accident, at the corner of Mausica Road and the Priority Bus Route, in D'Abadie. He was 52.

National Association of Athletics Administrations (NAAA) president Ephraim Serrette described St Louis' death as "a great loss".

St Louis was one of Trinidad and Tobago's top quarter-milers in the 1980s, representing Palo Seco Sporting Club and Defence Force. At the 1984 Olympic Games, in Los Angeles, USA, he competed in the men's 400 metres event. Twice, St Louis earned precious metal at the Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Games. In 1982, in Havana, Cuba, he earned bronze as part of T&T's 4x400m relay team, and followed up four years later with mile relay silver, in Santiago, Dominican Republic.

St Louis was a livewire in local track and field. The retired soldier served the sport as a coach at the D'Abadie Progressive Athletic Club, a committee member on the NAAA executive, and a starter at local meets. St Louis was head coach of the T&T teams that competed at the 2011 Carifta Games in Montego Bay, Jamaica, and the 2011 Pan American Junior Championships, in Florida, USA.

"A great one is gone," a sombre Serrette told the Express, yesterday. "As a coach and official, he was giving back to the sport...always willing to go that extra mile to make things happen, even influencing his children."

St Louis' five daughters—Brittany, Candace, Shade, Alisha and Aquilla—are all athletes. His son, AJ, was also in Sunday's accident, and was taken to Accident and Emergency, at the Mt Hope Hospital.

St Louis, who was married to Portia St Louis, was well-loved by the athletes he coached.

"He had a very good relationship with them," Serrette explained. "As a former athlete, he was able to help motivate them, and calm some of them."

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