How Beiging 2015 exposed crisis in Nigeria athletics

 

The just-ended Beijing 2015 IAAF World Championships brought to light major problems that have contributed to the dwindling fortunes of Nigeria’s athletics, reports ’TANA AIYEJINA

Attention has shifted to Congo Brazzaville, hosts of the 2015 All Africa Games, which began on Thursday and Team Nigeria is competing in 18 events, with athletics regarded as key to Nigeria’s overall performance at the Games, which is in its 11th edition.

Events from the 2015 IAAF World Championships in Beijing, where Nigeria put up a dismal show without winning a medal, amidst controversies, have however exposed the rot in the country’s athletics.

Even the athletes, who hitherto used to be quiet in the midst of crisis, have come out to openly criticise the officials of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria for their roles in the dwindling fortunes of track and field.

Before the long trip to China, up-and-coming triple jumper Olumide Olamigoke, who got an IAAF invitation to compete in Beijing, was dropped in controversial circumstances by the Athletic Federation of Nigeria.

In Beijing, coach Maurice Greene was shockingly not part of the Nigerian delegation, women’s high jump finalist Doreen Amata competed without a coach, captain Blessing Okagbare’s injury caused a stir, men’s triple jump finalist Tosin Oke shockingly disclosed how “clueless” the AFN was, amongst several other controversies.

In fact, disunity in Team Nigeria’s camp was evident with the way the athletes were reportedly dressed in China. The overseas-based athletes and their home-based counterparts were reportedly dressed in different colours, rather than the Nigerian green and white colours, as is expected in such competitions.

Nigeria used to be a powerhouse in track and field events with the likes of Innocent Egbunike, Moses Ugbuisien, Chidi Imoh (100m and 200m), Olapade Adenekan (100m and 200m), Adewale Olukoju (throws), Sunday Bada (400m) and several others confirming their superiority in Africa and also putting up impressive performances in global competitions.

In the women’s events, the likes of Chioma Ajunwa, Nigeria’s first and only individual Olympic gold medallist, Falilat Ogunkoya, Fatima Yusuf, Mary Onyali, Christy Opara-Thompson, Faith Idehen, Endurance Ojokolo and others also made the country proud internationally.

But gradually, athletics administrators failed to fill the vacuum left behind by these stars, preferring to bask in past glory. Several factors conspired to gradually rob Nigeria of her enviable position as Africa’s best track and field nation, which came to the fore with the country’s woeful outing in Beijing.

AFN’s insensitivity towards athletes

A major problem that exposed in Beijing is the insensitivity of AFN officials towards athletes. For instance, Tosin Oke, who is now the world’s eighth best athlete, was reportedly shunned by the AFN for the Beijing 2015 trials, because he was considered a spent force.

But the athlete jumped 16.98m to book a place in Beijing, where he reached the final of his event with a jump of 16.81m. Oke revealed in Beijing that the federation still owed him $2,500 (for his flight ticket refund to the trials).

The country was brought to more ridicule, when Abbas Abubakar Abbas, a former Nigerian quarter-miler, who now runs for Bahrain, shockingly disclosed that it was easy pitching tent with Bahrain because of the poor treatment he received from the federation.

Abbas came second in the 400m at the 2012 National Sports Festival in Lagos, behind Orukpe Erayokan. After pledging loyalty to Bahrain, he won a World Junior Championships bronze medal in 2014. Even though he now runs faster than Erayokan and every other Nigerian in his event, he insists he would not have been in Beijing, if he was competing for Nigeria.

He said, “If I’m in Nigeria, surely I will not come here (Beijing). Maybe I won’t make the standard. I never thought of running for another country. I wanted to represent my country, Nigeria, but a lot of things are happening (in Nigeria); the way Nigerian federation treat athletes.

“I once ran in an ECOWAS relays and we had silver. When we came back, nobody called us to even thank us. I ran 47 seconds when I was 15 but nobody encouraged me. Nobody said, ‘let’s take care of this guy, next time he will do better.’

“After the 2012 festival, someone asked me if I would like to run for Bahrain and I said, ‘okay.’ When I got to Bahrain, I ran 47 secs but within two years, I ran 45.15. Look at Orukpe, why is he running like that? He is stronger than me but he needs help. Now, no Nigerian athlete will beat me even when I’m not in shape.”

Kemi Adekoya’s first race of 2014 was a significant one in her career. Making her debut on the Diamond League circuit in Doha, she defeated the entire 400m hurdles field in a surprise win. Her time of 54.59 secs was world-leading then. It was also a Bahraini record – she had switched nationality to the oil-rich state at the start of the year— and she displayed a banner showing her love for her new country.

But her move to Bahrain was unknown to AFN president, Solomon Ogba, who was present at the race in Doha and lodged a complaint with the IAAF, claiming her move was out-of-process. But because Adekoya had never formally registered with the AFN, the country could not block the move.

AFN’s ‘yes sir’ coaches

Sydney 2000 4x400m Olympic Games gold medallist, Clement Chukwu, supports Abbas’ view that coaches should be allowed to go with their athletes to national camps, saying the national coaches are more or less ‘yes sir’ men of the federation.

Chukwu, who is based in the US, said, “I am upset by the powers that be at AFN. The calibre of coaches is an insult to Nigeria. Who has (Gabriel) Okon and (Yusuf) Alli produced that they are always in front when it’s time to travel for competitions? What are the qualifications of these mediocre coaches.

“Why are the home-based coaches that gave their time to the athletes not considered? It doesn’t make sense when you keep inviting friends or people that will say ‘yes sir’ to you. We have coaches who can do it.”

Another US-based ex-Nigerian athlete Adewale Olukoju laments the lack of quality home-grown coaches.

“We have Okon as head coach, I feel sorry for the athletes. The athletes can’t talk because they will threaten to drop them. We had a girl who ran 2:05 in 800m but they kicked her out of camp for the All Africa Games. How is she going to get better? Put such a girl in school in Kenya with a coach attached to her. In one year, she will set the national record but we don’t think that way,” Olukoju said.

“Dejiu Aliu started a camp this year. With all his experience, why is he not in camp for the AAG? He won medals for the country, but why is he not coaching? He can’t say ‘yes sir’ to anybody. We’re not serious yet.”

Over-reliance on Okagbare

Since the 2008 Olympic Games, where she won a bronze medal in long jump, Blessing Okagbare has become the sole symbol of Nigerian athletics. At international events, the onus rests on her feminine shoulders to win a medal for the country.

Okagbare

The pressure has largely affected the athlete, as she sometimes fails to perform when it matters most on the world stage, just like she did in Beijing.

Okagbare was scheduled to compete in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay events in Beijing. After a poor outing in the 100m final, where she came last, a hamstring injury reportedly stopped her from competing in the 200m. She also failed to compete in the 4x100m relays for women.

“It does not make sense to celebrate Blessing alone. Where are the others? A tree cannot make a forest. In my time, we had at least eight athletes in each event. If you were out, others will take your place. But we now have a situation where we have only Blessing; once she’s injured, it’s over for Nigeria,” Christy Opara-Thompson, a Barcelona ’92 Olympic Games 4x100m bronze medallist, said.

Olukoju added, “I think there was more stress on Blessing from the federation and Nigerians than her opponents. She’s human; I don’t see how many people who get such pressure on them these days.

“There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have at least three girls running 11.02 in the 100m. If they compete regularly, they will improve. But if Blessing stops competing today, we are done in the 100m for a while.”

Other athletes feel Okagbare has been given preferential treatment to their detriment. Perhaps, Oke was referring to the Warri-born athlete when he said, “…I try to give my best all the time but it’s hard to take when you hear that one person is getting five figures and you are getting zero.”

‘Importation’ of American athletes

The latest trend in track and field is the importation of American athletes to represent the country. It is seen as a ploy by the AFN to hoodwink Nigerians into believing that the federation is doing well.

The likes of Mark Jelks, Nichole Denby, Tyron Akins, Robert Simmons and Hammedjan Soudi were reportedly given Nigerian passports in the AFN’s desperation to ensure that Nigeria performed well internationally.

Indeed, to disguise them as Nigerian athletes, the Americans were given Delta names. Jelks’ Nigerian name is Amaju while Akins and Simmons are Toritseju and Tuoyo respectively.

Olukoju, who won four gold medals in discus and shot put events at the All Africa Games, said the federation was trying to reap where it did not sow, with the hiring of the foreigners.

The US police officer said, “You have to talk to Ogba about that. I don’t know how he brought American athletes to Nigeria and gave them Nigerian names. These are athletes who cannot point to Nigeria on a map. You want to win without doing the work?

“It doesn’t work that way. Some countries do that. Qatar has a lot of Nigerians competing for them but they don’t abandon their people. They bring in foreigners to show their people how to do it. Femi Ogunode is running 10.02 secs for Qatar but we dumped him. If they (AFN) want to do that, fine but they can’t stop our own developmental channel. All the athletes that came (from US) all became Delta athletes.”

Poor grassroots programme

The federation’s apparent neglect of track and field at the grassroots perhaps triggered the desperation for the importation of foreigners to compete for Nigeria.

Running cap in hand to these Americans would have been avoided, if the grassroots structure that produced the country’s best track and field talents was sustained.

In the past, states sports councils, under the supervision of the AFN, had solid grassroots machinery that helped in identifying and grooming talented youngsters into limelight.

But apart from Lagos and Cross River states, there is hardly any other state with a viable grassroots programme. “When you have world-class athletes, they will not compete for ever. What you need to start doing is to bring up their replacements but we stopped,” Olukoju added.

Exclusion of ex-stars

Our correspondent learnt that several of Nigeria’s retired elite athletes, who made their names competing on the global stage, have not been given the opportunity to work with the federation.

Opara-Thompson, a gold, silver and bronze medallist at the 1994 Commonwealth Games, lamented the exclusion of ex-athletes in the affairs of the sport.

She said, “I have a sports park in Abuja where I am breeding young athletes. I have met them but they are not ready to support us. I’m a graduate and I’m not begging anybody for a job.

“I just heard they employed an American Michelle as Sports Performance Director in my country. What’s her qualification? I’m better qualified but they don’t value what they have.

“I lived in America and defeated Americans. This girl has a house and earns about $10,000 but your hero is not given anything.”

Olukoju said he had also offered to help in the but was ignored.

“I will love to help but there’s no way I will leave my family and my job to come to Nigeria. I have told them, ‘get young talents to the US, put them in a camp and I will assist.’I will do that for free,” he said.