The 2nd Day of the Nigerian Trials for the Commonwealth Games took place on Friday in Calabar, with athletes who formerly represented USA dominating proceedings. The sudden emergence of former Americans at the Nigerian Championships is already causing a stir (and confusion) amongst fans and athletes alike.
The crown of Nigeria’s fastest man went to Former American Mark Jelks, representing Delta State. He was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, running an impressive 10.12s in the heats on Day 1, and following that up with victories in the semis and finals, both in times of 10.23s, into headwinds of -1.7 m/s and -2.3 m/s respectively. Second place went to another former US Athlete, Mozavous Arkezes Edwards, also representing Delta, who finished in 10.39s, with the defending champion Ogho-Oghone Egwero finishing third in 10.45s. Another former Champion on his comeback trail, Obinna Metu, finished a disappointing 5th place in 10.51s, and one must wonder now if he will ever reach the heights that made him Nigerian No. 1 and to go and train at Usain Bolt’s camp in Jamaica for a couple of month! Jelks was mobbed by Nigerian press after the race, and when asked about his family links to Nigeria, he told us that his ‘Papa’ (grandfather) was from Warri South!
22-year old Seye Ogunlewe, the most promising young Nigerian sprinter for some time now, finished 4th in 10.46s, and unfortunately misses out on an individual spot in the 100 metres for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow (he finished 2nd behind Egwero last year and has a PB of 10.23s set this year). This is an unfortunate consequence of having recruited the older Americans to Team Nigeria, and one can only hope that this young man will get his fair chance to represent Nigeria in the individual 100 metres soon. He should complete Nigeria’s quartet in the 4×100 metres which should now be strong enough to win a Commonwealth medal, after disappointing performances from our men’s relay teams in the past few years!
In the 100 metres hurdles, another newly converted Nigerian, Nichole Denby won the title in a time of 13.29s, while last year’s Champion Ugonna Ndu (13.57s) and Amaka Ogoebunam (13.71s), both US-based as well, finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. While Ugonna’s and Amaka’s links to Nigeria are clear from their names alone, Nichole’s link isn’t so obvious – when we caught up with her after her win, she told us that her great-grandfather on her mother’s side was Nigerian! In the 110 hurdles, yet another former US Athlete, Tyron ‘Toritseju’ Akins took the crown in a time of 13.66s, ahead of UK-based Alex Al-Ameen who posted 13.75s, and Martins Ogieriakhi who ran 13.93s. We caught up with Tyron after his win and he confirmed that you need to have Nigerian heritage to make the switch and that he was lucky enough to have found a link (deep) in his family tree!
In the past, athletes with clear immediate family links to Nigeria, such as Regina George and Gloria Asumnu, switched allegiance from the USA to Nigeria at different stages of their careers. Regina George especially is an exceptional athlete who represented USA as a junior and made the switch to Team Nigeria even though she was and still is good enough to compete for USA. But this new era of Nigerian Athletics we are currently witnessing is unlike anything we have ever seen before. We’re seeing athletes with questionable, distant links to Nigeria, supposedly in their heritage, switch from the USA to pitch tent for Nigeria in the twilight of their careers, most of whom have never represented USA at the highest level, at major championships.
Should we not be expending a lot more energy and resources ensuring that the best talents in Nigeria, such as Bahrain’s Kemi Adekoya and Qatar’s Femi Ogunode, do not switch in the first place? Can these Americans turned Nigerians take us to the promised land, which is to be as good as, or even better than the Americans and Jamaicans in the coming years? Tell us what YOU think. In the meantime, Making of Champions will be bringing you EXCLUSIVE interviews will ALL of the latest recruits to Team Nigeria – watch this space!
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