The World U20 Championships will run from August 1 to 8 in Cali, Colombia and Team Nigeria is already on ground to win honours
By Uzor Odigbo
Athletics Federation of Nigeria President Tonobok Okowa says the next set of future stars to represent Nigeria at future global championships and Games will be unearthed at the World U20 Athletics Championships which begin Monday in Cali, Colombia.
‘The World U20 championships have become the breeding ground for us and most of our top stars today have always graduated from the championships to become top athletes in the world who have always competed for podium places at the World Championships, indoors and outdoors and the Olympics,’ said Okowa who believes Team Nigeria is ready to unearth tomorrow’s stars in Cali.
‘Last year we had an impressive outing at the U20 championships in Nairobi where we achieved an unprecedented feat. Some of the athletes have now grown to become top stars and Nigeria’s national record holders today.
‘Favour Ofili has grown to become the fastest Nigerian ever in the 200m event (21.96) after winning three medals in Nairobi while Nnamdi Chinacherem Prosper is now the Nigerian record holder in the Javelin Throw (81.22m),’ added Okowa who insists the aim of the federation is not geared towards winning alone.
‘Last year Nathaniel Ezekiel did not make it to the podium but he is today the Nigeria record holder in the 400m hurdles, breaking a 35 year old record set by Henry Amike at the 1987 World Athletics Championships in Rome, Italy.
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‘The exposure of the athletes is key to us. Some of the World and Olympic medallists we have produced never made it to podium at the World U20 championships but they built on that exposure to become medallists at global championships and Games.’ ‘Our three Olympic medallists in the long jump event never made it to the podium at the U20 championships,’ he revealed. Chioma Ajunwa who won Nigeria’s first and so far only individual gold medal at the Olympics came fifth at the U2 championships in 1990 in the long jump final in Plovdiv, Bulgaria why Blessing Okagbare did not even make it to the long jump final at the U20 Championships in Beijing, China in 2006 but she returned two years later to the same venue to win a silver medal at the Olympics.
‘Particularly interesting is Ese Brume’s case. She was ranked the 33rd best (last) in the final classification and didn’t make it near the final of the U20
In a press statement signed by AFN media head Oludare Esan said, Championships in Eugene, Oregon, USA in 2014 but returned a week later to claim the Commonwealth Games gold in Glasgow, Scotland.
‘Ese also returned to Eugene in 2022 to rewrite her record on that ground, jumping to a silver medal finish at the World oudoor championships just last month,’ said Okowa
“The World U20 Championships will run from August 1 to 8 in Cali, Colombia and Team Nigeria is already on ground to not only compete for honours but also to banish the ghost of their non-appearance in 2000 when South America first hosted the championships in Chile.
Gadzama: 2022 Commonwealth Games will be our best ever Sydney 2000 Olympic gold medallist Tafida Gadzama says the track and field team will surpass the record of three gold medals set at the 1990, 1994 and 2014 Commonwealth Games when the athletics event of the ongoing Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games begins on Tuesday.
The trio of Yusuf Alli (Long Jump), Adewale Olukoju (Discus Throw) and Fatimah Yusuf (400m) set the benchmark for most gold medals won at a single edition of the Games in Auckland, New Zealand in 1990.
This record was equalled four years later at The British Columbia in Canada by the trio of Obinna Eregbu (Long Jump), Mary Onyali (100m) and the women’s 4x100m relay team before Blessing Okagbare, who achieved a first ever sprints double for Nigeria and Ese Brume in the long jump won another three gold medals for Nigeria at the 2014 Games in Glasgow, Scotland.
‘The track and field team will surely surpass that record here in Birmingham,’ said Gadzama who is also the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, first Vice President.
‘There has been a resurgence in our performances since the present board of the AFN was inaugurated in June 2021. Our programme and engagements with our athletes have been richly rewarded such that we have either returned the team to podium finishes after over a decade of fruitfuless trips to major global championships or achieve feats unprecedented.
‘At the delayed Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan last year and the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia last March, Nigeria returned to the podium after 13 and
14 years of unsuccessful attempts while at the World U20 championships in Nairobi, Kenya last year and the World Athletics championships last month in Oregon, USA, set new records and benchmarks.
‘We won a total of seven medals in Nairobi, one better than we ever won in 1990 in Plovdiv, Bulgaria with an unprecedented haul of four gold medals. We also finished third on the medal table, our highest position since 1986 when we started participating in the championships.
‘Our feat at the World Championships just last month is still fresh in our memories. We not only produced a world champion for the first time but also a world record holder,’ said Gadzama who said the feats by Tobi Amusan who wion the 100m hurdles gold and set a new 12.12 seconds World Record and Ese Brume’s silver medal, an
upgrade on the bronze she won three years earlier in Doha, Qatar are having positive impact on the team to the Commonwealth Games.
‘Tobi has given our athletes renewed hopes they can aspire to become the best in the world and we are hoping some of them will start that journey here in Birmingham.
For example, we have never won the ultimate medal in the men’s 100m while Okagbare remains the last Nigerian woman to have won the event since 2014.
