Clarance (Nicky) Saunders believes another Bermudian will one day follow him to the top of a Commonwealth Games podium ? but only if they put the work in.

Saunders, who leapt 2.36 metres to claim the Island?s only Commonwealth gold in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1990 and set a Games record that still stands today, believes too many of Bermuda?s youth are wasting their talents.

The 42-year-old, who also leapt to bronze in 1982 in Brisbane, spoke to this week ahead of the arrival of the Queen?s Baton on Wednesday night, part of a year-long lead-up to the 2006 Games in Melbourne next March.

?We produce some of the most incredible athletes I have ever seen,? said Saunders, who will miss Friday?s celebrations which include gathering together every Commonwealth athlete to represent Bermuda over the past 75 years.

?If you look at our young people they are incredibly talented but not enough of them make it to the next level.

?They compete in Carifta and win medals there but don?t have the dedication to go on to perform at the world-class, Olympic, Commonwealth or Pan-Am level.

?I really believe that someone else can win a Commonwealth gold and I don?t think we are going to have to wait that long, but it is a case of putting in the time and having the dedication and commitment to go all the way.

?We don?t have full-time athletes and that is a shame but that is what we have to work with and people have to make the best of their situation.

?I think it is a very different mentality nowadays, we lose a lot of the kids at 13 or 14. The girls become interested in boys and the boys become interested in bikes or hanging out with different crews ? there just isn?t the support there for them nowadays.?

But Saunders cites Arantxa King, world youth and Pan-Am youth champion long jumper, as someone who has many of the ingredients for success ? and a possible contender to add to Bermuda?s current Commonwealth tally of five medals ? Saunders? gold and bronze, John Morbey?s 1966 long jump silver, Brian Wellman?s triple jump bronze in 1994 and the ten pin bowling silvers of Antoine Jones and Conrad Lister in Malaysia in 1998.

?She is an exceptional talent, exceptional,? said Saunders, who also named high jumper Latroya Darrell, a silver medallist in the Pan-Am juniors, as a possible future Games winner.

?I?m not sure if people realise how lucky we are to have a talent like that and what it takes to be a world champion and a Pan-Am champion at just 15 when the girls she was competing against were a lot older.

?She can really go on and do great things. Now she is someone who seems to have the right level of dedication and has fantastic support.

?She comes from a good family, her father Adrian and mother Branwen are good people, good sports people and they will give her a lot of support.

?That is what can make the difference for a young athlete. I was given a lot of help in my day by friends and family, they really spurred me on and helped me believe in myself.?

Self-belief was never a problem for Saunders who went into the 1982 Games in Brisbane sure that he had a good chance of the win.

?I was in good shape and there was pretty intense rivalry between a few of us and I thought I had a good chance,? recalled Saunders, who leaves the Island this week to begin a new life in London with his wife and two children.

?In the end I came up short against Milton Ottey (of Canada) but I knew I could do more.?

Saunders sensed the gold was going to be his four years later at the Edinburgh Games ? before he was robbed by the farcical boycott that saw Bermuda pull out along with African and Asian nations in response to Britain?s continued ties with South Africa.

?I knew I was going to win that one, it was my time,? he recalled.

?But then there was the whole would we, wouldn?t we compete fiasco and in the end I never got my chance.

?That was a real shame because, like I say, I was going to win that one but we didn?t get to compete. I think the sentiment of support was right in our decision to boycott but we didn?t handle it all that well and we never really backed it up by our actions back at home.?

Finally, in Auckland, eight years after his bronze, Saunders got the chance to take the medal he knew all along was rightly his.

?Now that one, I really did know I was going to win,? he joked.

?There was a lot of rivalry again between me and Milton and Dalton Grant (the Englishman who took silver). But I told everyone before that they were just there to take places behind me and that is what happened.

?It was good to win it with such a good height and taking the medal was just fantastic for me.

?I was over the moon. The first feeling was relief but then I was overjoyed. It was a proud, proud moment.?