The accolades are still rolling in for Troy Douglas.

The Bermudian, who has made a sensational return to world athletics at the age of 39, was named recently as the number three sportsman of the year in a poll run by the Dutch magazine, Sportsweek.

Douglas was ranked behind cyclist Erik Dekker and speedskater Rintje Ritsma but figured ahead of such notables as Ruud van Nistelrooy and Patrick Kluivert, who are the leading footballers in a country that is reeling from its national team’s failure to reach the World Cup finals in Japan and South Korea this summer.

“For me to make this magazine is really good because they are crazy about football,” Douglas said yesterday from his base in Denhahe, near Amsterdam. “If there are 20 pages, 15 are about football. So if you make an interview in there you’re doing good.”

Dekker has been the most prominent cyclist in Holland the past two years and, though he could not duplicate his feat of three stage wins at the 2000 Tour de France, the 31-year-old returned with a stage win last year on the way to finishing in 91st position.

Ritsma went from European to world all-around speedskating champion and is one of the favourites to excel at the Winter Olympics to be held in Salt Lake City next month.

Douglas said he was honoured to be in such exalted company but figured that the magazine cited him significantly because of the barriers he had to overcome after the failed drug test of 1999 resulted in a two-year suspension meted out by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

“I proved my innocence here in Holland, didn’t get a fair trial by the IAAF and then I came back and ran very well,” Douglas said. “What impressed (Sportsweek<$>) the most was that I was able to overcome that and stay focused on my athletics — and stay very professional.

“I pulled it off without blaming anybody else. They liked the fact that in the two years I served my suspension I also proved that I could come back strong without thinking about revenge.”

Douglas returned to competitive athletics at the end of June and did well enough in low-profile meets in Holland that the national federation put him forward to compete at the World Championships in Edmonton. Once there, Douglas produced a series of blistering times that led to him breaking the national 100 metres record three times and the 200m record once.

“I got the feeling from some of my colleagues at a sports gala recently that it was incredible for a guy who had been out for that long to come back and do so well at the World Championships and in Zurich and Brussels,” Douglas added.Continued on Page 16Douglas turned 39 during a Christmas visit to Bermuda for warm-weather training, however his brief stay was noted more for inflammatory comments directed at the country’s overseas soccer professionals. Next week, he joins the Dutch national squad in South Africa for a two-week training stint during which time he promises to focus solely on training.

“Everything’s frozen in Holland right now,” he said. “I did a workout today and I’m running on ice!

“I have a luxury this year in that I’m back full-time and I have the support now. I was in Bermuda to do some warm-weather training and now I’m back here and I’m going to South Africa to do some more warm-weather training. So that’s good for me. It keeps me sharp and healthy.”

Douglas hopes to see his first competitive action of the new year at the Sparkassen Cup in Stuttgart, Germany, on February 3.