Male athletes still in search of lost glory

SEPTEMBER 1, 2013  

The inability of Nigeria’s male athletes to win medals outside Africa calls for concern, reports ’TANA AIYEJINA

Gone are the days when Nigeria’s male athletes were forces in global athletics. In time past, they used to share global honours with their female counterparts but the story has changed in recent times as Nigerians now look up to the females for medals in international sports events.

Present generation of athletes like Obinna Metu, Tobi Ogunmola, Samuel Okon, Selim Nurudeen, Egwero Ogho-Oghene, Tosin Oke, Friday Osanyande and several others have struggled to perform outside Africa.

In the 1980s, the likes of Innocent Egbunike, Chidi Imoh, Moses Ugbisien, Chidi Imoh, Olapade Adeniken, Paul Emordi, Yusuf Alli, Joseph Kio, Henry Amike, Adewale Olukoju, the Ezinwa brothers, Davidson and Osmond, created waves worldwide winning races or coming close in almost all the competitions they attended.

In the 1990s, a new generation of athletes led by the late quarter-miler Sunday Bada was ushered in and they used the 1991 All Africa Games as springboard to international glory.

This era had the likes of Chima Ugwu, who won a gold medal in the shot put event in Cairo, beating the almost invincible Olukoju to second place and Daniel Phillip, bronze winner in the 200m event. Bada won a bronze medal at the games.

In fact, these three athletes went on to make the country proud in international events like the Commonwealth Games. Bada accomplished the highest feat among the athletes, though it came after his death, after the IOC awarded gold medal to Nigeria’s men’s 4X400m relay team to Sydney 2000 this year.

It went on till the new millennium and budding stars Francis Obikwelu— who later dumped Nigeria to compete for Portugal— William Erese, Anthony Idiata, Kehinde Aladefa also announced their coming on the international stage with fantastic performances.

At the 2003 All Africa Games on home soil, a new set of stars shone brilliantly to pronounce their arrival on the big stage. These set of male athletes include Deji Aliu, who won the 100m event and Uchenna Emedolu, the 200m winner.

The following year, the quartet of Olusoji Fasuba, Aaron Egbele, Emedolu and Aliu won the 4X100m relay bronze medal for Nigeria at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.

Fasuba, the current African record holder in the 100m event with 9.85 seconds, went on to greater things.

He won the African Championships 100m in 2004; a silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games and was the indoor world champion over 60 metres in 2008, becoming the first African to achieve the feat.

However, that is how the fairytale story of Nigeria’s male athletes lasted. Since then, the male athletes hardly win medals in major international competitions outside Africa, leaving the women and special sports athletes to the rescue.

At the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games, Nigeria didn’t win any athletics medal, save for Blessing Okagbare’s bronze in the women’s long jump.

The London Olympics last year spelt more doom for the nation as the country’s entire contingent ended the games without a single medal.

Nigeria men’s long jump record holder and 1990 Commonwealth Games champion, Yusuf Alli, blames the decline of the men athletes on poor motivation and lack of a structure.

He says, “The male athletes are doing enough but there is no motivation. It’s not about sports alone, it is happening in the entire society. We are not doing enough to get the desired results.

“I think it’s the result of not having a structure; we need to put a structure on ground. It’s easier to train a woman than a man and that’s the major reason. We need to go back to the grassroots.

“The situation is terrible but we can’t run away, this is our country. We have to put our acts together for things to change.”

Only eight male athletes made Team Nigeria’s 20-man squad to the 2013 World Athletics Championships in Moscow. The list includes Ogho-Oghene Egwero, Noah Akwu (200m), Tosin Oke (triple jump) and Momoh Leoman (800m).

The others are Gerald Odeka, Tobi Ogunmola, Isah Salihu and Abiola Onakoya.

And it was Okagbare to the nation’s rescue again, winning a silver (long jump) and bronze (200m), as the men failed once more.

Sprinter Ogho-Oghene refuses to comment on the cause of the decline.

“That question will be best answered by the AFN (Athletic Federation of Nigeria) because every athlete wants to win. I prepare for every race with a winning mentality, so I can’t answer that question,” he says.

But former national decathlon champion, Brown Ebewele, attributes the men’s poor outing to the country’s poor economic situation.

“It shows that probably the women are more committed and disciplined than the men.  In the past, men were doing better than women; this was in the 70s and 80s. The likes of Charlton Ehizuelen, Peter Okudugbe were stars at the world level and they were competing with the best,” the former Edo State Sports Commissioner says.

He adds, “Surprisingly, maybe the economic situation in the country has eaten deep into the men and instead of concentrating, they have divided loyalty. Maybe now, they are more interested in quick money.

“An athlete goes to a competition, earns small allowance and it keeps him for some time. By the time the money is finished, he dusts his kits and says, ‘Let me go and make some money again.’

“Nigeria is the only country where you see national athletes riding okadas (motorcycles) and trekking; it’s a shame. Smaller countries like Cote d’Ivoire, Morocco and Egypt have packages for national athletes, to make them comfortable.”

Ebewele insists that only a properly planned programme would see the athletes return to winning ways like their female counterparts.

He says, “It depends on the government’s programme. As far as I am concerned, there is no programme. I was in Warri with the Nigerian athletics team to Morocco but you will be shocked to find out that after that, nothing will be done until next year.

“We keep running crash programmes.  If there was continued programmes, things will change; not when there is a competition in October, you open a camp in September. There is no programme, no continuity.”

Nigeria’s first and only individual Olympic gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa, says state sports councils have to be functional like it used to be in the past, for things to return to normal.

The police officer states, “All the states sports councils should be functional. We all came from one state sports council or the other. I remember Chima Ugwu, Adewale Olukoju and the rest; we were all competing together under the auspices of the sports councils.

“Nigeria can’t have men’s athletes from the roadside. Somebody has to go into the villages, groom them and take them to the local government. From there, they will progress to the state and on to the national level. That’s the only way we can get the men athletes back to reckoning again.

“But we don’t want to tell ourselves the truth and it gets me angry. We know what to do but we don’t always do it.”

AFN spokesman, Kayode Thomas, however says the athletic body is not responsible for athletes development, adding that there were plans in place to ensure that the men’s athletes bounce back.

“If you look at how athletics is structured all over the world, you will find out that the AFN has nothing to do with the development of athletes. It’s the responsibility of the states and schools.

“But since they are not doing that, we are starting a schools programme next year. It’s in the U-16 and U-13 categories. We also have a collegiate plan in place to discover promising athletes. And we are going to use specialised coaches in doing this,” he says.

According to Thomas, producing an elite athlete takes between six and seven years, but he is optimistic Nigeria won’t have to wait till then to see their men back to winning ways again.

He adds, “Our present athletes can still run 10.00seconds, which can earn us medals in the relays. We will work on the athletes we have right now, so that we won’t have to wait that long to win medals in the men’s events.”