in Kuala Lumpur which ended last week.

A week after the close of the 16th Commonwealth Games, there remains a sense of smug satisfaction.

Added to the tenpin bowlers' silver medal came a new national swimming record and sufficient other performances to suggest that this wasn't only the Island's largest squad to have taken part in the so-called Friendly Games, but a highly competitive one at that.

Yet as the back-slapping recedes, it would do no harm to reflect on how the country has benefited from the experience and how it can better prepare for the next major Games -- the Pan-Ams in Winnipeg next summer and a year later what promises to be the grand-daddy of all sports festivals, the Sydney 2000 Olympics.

For without taking anything away from those who competed in Kuala Lumpur it could be argued that an affluent country such as Bermuda should be aiming higher.

As small islands go we're richer than most, and for anyone with a hint of athletic talent opportunities abound -- opportunities to represent the country in international events, opportunities for college scholarships overseas and opportunities for financial backing which simply don't exist for athletes in other nations.

Open those same avenues to any small African country and chances are they would return from the Games with more than a single medal.

And while this was Bermuda's largest contingent, it could, and should have been bigger.

With team sports such as cricket and rugby introduced for the first time, here was a gilt-edged opportunity to get the kind of international exposure our administrators and athletes continually complain is lacking.

We might not have returned with any additional medals, but the chance was there to play against and learn from the best, all at minimal cost.

For the cricketers it would have served as ideal preparation for the upcoming Red Stripe Cup, for the rugby players a welcome and educational diversion from the Caribbean competition which we dominate while hardly breaking sweat.

But perhaps our most glaring absence was in track and field, an area in which over the years we have continually excelled.

Of the tiny two-man team we did field, high jumper Ronan Kane trained in Ireland and distance runner Terrance Armstrong in the US.

What, it might be asked, have Bermuda Track and Field Association been doing in the four years since the last Games in Victoria? Where are the Nicky Saunders, Brian Wellmans and Troy Douglas' of the future? And why isn't more being made of the abundance of natural talent that exists in the schools? One only has to look at the junior road races, triathlons and track and field meets to recognise Bermuda's potential. But inexplicably, it is not being tapped into.

Compare Bermuda's track and field representation at these Games with some of the Caribbean islands -- countries such as Antigua and Barbuda (5 athletes), Bahamas (14), Barbados (10), Jamaica (51), Montserrat (4), St.Lucia (4), St.

Kitts and Nevis (5), Turks and Caicos (4), Trinidad and Tobago (8).

Jamaica, Bahamas and Trinidad all won gold, again demonstrating that in track and field, much the same as in cricket, the Caribbean can compete on even terms with the might of Australia, England, Canada and South Africa.

Bermuda has a rich history of athletic success but under the current BTFA administration the outlook appears bleak.

Perhaps the time has come for Government to review those who run the sport and to whom they disperse cash by the bucketful each year. Were he in the soccer business, national coach Gerry Swan, the association's only paid administrator, might have been out of a job years ago, such is his track record.

The programme is in desperate need of new blood at the top, and the name of Steve Burgess, who has done so much to improve times and inspire the recreational runner, is one that comes readily to mind. Cal Simons is another whose passion would help rejuvenate the sport and point our best teen talent in the right direction. And there are others -- Saunders and Wellman being obvious choices -- who might be called on occasionally to lend their expertise.

But rather than single out track and field, with the national sports complex moving towards its completion, there is no better time than now to examine how much all of Bermuda's top sports could be improved and how best the new facilities utilised.

Conrad Lister and Antoine Jones' silver medal was a marvellous accomplishment.

But the question begs, could we have done better?