While he may have sported the orange and brown colours of the Netherlands for more than a decade, Troy Douglas’ heart always belonged to Bermuda.Even when competing for the Dutch after changing citizenship in 1998 to seek greater opportunity and income, the Island’s new athletics coach insists he was always ‘Bermuda’s Troy Douglas’.After hanging up his spikes, Douglas became a coach for the Netherlands Athletics Federation in 2006, a position he relinquished after this summer’s London Games where his men’s 4x100 metre relay team finished sixth.Having long hankered for a return to his homeland, Douglas is now looking to broaden the horizons of Bermuda’s young athletes with the knowledge he gained while coaching overseas.“I don’t feel like I abandoned Bermuda,” said Douglas, who started his coaching position this week. “If you look at every interview I ever did on television or radio in the Netherlands they always said ‘Troy Douglas of Bermuda who is now a Dutchman’.“I will carry the label of Troy Douglas the Bermudian for the rest of my life. It was a risk (to defect to the Netherlands); I took that risk and I’m grateful for that risk. I encourage any athlete to take a risk because if you don’t you will never know what you’re capable of achieving.”Douglas had already made a decision to step down from a post he felt he had outgrown before watching his Dutch men’s 4x100 relay team finish sixth at the Olympics.While there were other offers on the table, he said the chance to become Bermuda’s head coach, despite it not initially being a paid position, was too big an opportunity to turn down.“I had outgrown the position I was in and if I had stayed in the Netherlands I would have stayed in the same position.“I had some other options outside of the Netherlands but I’m a challenge-orientated individual and the Bermuda job seemed like the right step in my career.”The first task for the four-time Olympic sprinter will be to assemble a crack team of coaches who he believes will be central to inspiring the next generation of young Bermudian athletes.Topping his wanted list is former world indoor triple jump champion Brian Wellman who is understood to have been one of three candidates, including Douglas, to have applied for the position of head coach.“The challenge is putting together the next coaching staff, and that’s exciting challenge for me,” said Douglas, one of Bermuda’s most decorated athletes. “I want a team of coaches who can bring our athletes to the next level.“I’m not going to overlook a Brian Wellman; he’s an individual with a wealth of knowledge, a huge heart for the sport and willing to look with the team. I will be having discussions with Brian and some other coaches on Friday.“We have coaches who have been working in the club system for the past 15 to 20 years; they are coaches who are full of knowledge but their knowledge has been stagnating to a certain point.“It’s my job to bring that knowledge out and take them overseas where they can wet their feet, make a mistake and come back as better coaches.”Douglas expects as many as five Bermudian athletes, Tyrone Smith, Arantxa King, Tre Houston, Aaron Evans and Shaquille Dill, to qualify for the next Olympics in Rio, Brazil.However, he primarily sees athletics as a vehicle to help youngsters finish high school and qualify for college scholarships.“Our job is to prepare athletes for the future, that’s the purpose. I see athletics as a vehicle to prepare them for the next phase in their lives. If we can do that then I feel like I’ve done a great job. If some of them go on to become Olympians and world champions then we’ve done a better job.”The Association was moved to appoint a full-time head coach after the International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) mandated that member federations develop a coaching structure in order to be eligible for any benefits and annual grants.Bermuda Track and Field Association president Donna Watson will be hoping Douglas can help restore Bermudian athletics to level it was in the 1990s, when the new incumbent, Wellman and Clarence (Nicky) Saunders were among the world’s elite.“When I saw Troy at the Olympics he assured me that was the last time he would be wearing the orange and brown tracksuit of the Netherlands,” she said.“He will bring so much to our Association. With the knowledge he has and the contacts he has, I just know he will take us to the next level.”Watson added that the BTFA could soon be in line for a name change.“We have come up with new name, I can’t announce it yet because we have to go to the affiliates to get approval. There aren’t too many associations today who call themselves Track and Field Associations because of the inclusion of road running. Most are now called Athletics Associations.”