Making of Champions

Nigeria’s 2nd Relay Medal in Olympic History is probably the most iconic – not just because it was the first medal that any Nigerian woman won at the Olympics. The manner in which the quartet of Beatrice Utondu, Faith Idehen, Mary Onyali and Christy Opara-Thompson celebrated their Bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m at Barcelona ’92 is one of the most enduring Olympic moments and encapsulates what the Games is all about! There is a certain pride one feels watching this clip when you hear the British commentator exclaim almost immediately “..also going well is Nigeria! Nigeria going really well into this first change!” Enjoy!

Rank outsiders before the race, the elation of Team Nigeria’s quartet was heightened by the fact that though they had just pipped France at the line for the Bronze, they were unsure if they had actually won it until the results appeared on the big screen – cue delirious celebrations! Here is a clip of the Olympic TV Ad that was spawned by their awesome celebration, which has etched them forever in the memories of the global Olympic movement!

One of the quartet, Mary Onyali, would go on to become Nigeria’s most decorated athlete of all time, winning an individual bronze medal in the 200 metres at Atlanta ’96, and eventually appearing in 5 consecutive Olympic Games – unprecedented and still unmatched by any other Nigerian Track & Field Athlete!

The World Relays is a new annual competition (the 1st edition being held in The Bahamas on May 24th/25th), where the world’s best Track & Field nations will compete over 10 different events – 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m & 4x1500m (both men and  women). There is a total prize fund of $1.4  million up for grabs, and for the 4x100m & 4x400m, the 2014 World Relays will serve as the qualifiers for the 2015 World Championships (as will the 2015 World Relays for the 2016 Olympics). For viewers in Nigeria and Africa, the World Relays will show LIVE on SuperSports on May 24th/25th – more details soon!

Nigeria’s first global Relay medal, indeed the nation’s first ever medal in Athletics at the Olympics, came at the Los Angeles 1984 Games in the men’s 4×400 metres. Sunday Uti and Innocent Egbunike, arguably Nigeria’s best quarter-milers of that generation, had both already featured in the individual 400m final at the same games. They ran the 1st and final legs respectively for the 4x400m Bronze-medal run, and were joined by Moses Ugbesien and Rotimi Peters on the 2nd & 3rd legs – their medal winning time of 2:59.32 was an African Record which would stand for the next 16 years!

As we spend the next 10 days reminiscing on ALL of Nigeria’s Relay Medals in Olympic & World Championship history, perhaps the most interesting footnote from most of the videos is how we experience the Nigerian story through the commentary of other countries following their own athletes. The above video is clearly focused on Team GB, while the below video of exactly the same race is covered through the eyes of Team USA! Later on in this series we’ll also see commentary from Australia and even Canada, as we celebrate Nigeria’s “Perfect 10” Global RELAY Medals!

The World Relays is a new annual competition (the 1st edition being held in The Bahamas on May 24th/25th), where the world’s best Track & Field nations will compete over 10 different events – 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m & 4x1500m (both men and  women). There is a total prize fund of $1.4  million up for grabs, and for the 4x100m & 4x400m, the 2014 World Relays will serve as the qualifiers for the 2015 World Championships (as will the 2015 World Relays for the 2016 Olympics). For viewers in Nigeria and Africa, the World Relays will show LIVE on SuperSports on May 24th/25th – more details on that soon!

In anticipation of the 1st ever World Relay competition this month (May 24th/25th), starting tomorrow we’ll be reminiscing on each of the TEN Relay medals that Team Nigeria has won at the Olympics and World Championships. Every day until the start of the World Relays, we’ll take you down memory lane, and post the link to one of these medal-winning races for Team Naija!

Nigeria has a rich history in the 4×100 metre and 4×400 metre Relays, having won medals at the highest level in both the men’s and women’s races at each distance. Nigeria has won eight medals in World Championship history, with TWO of them being in the Relays, and incredibly, out of thirteen medals that Nigeria has won in Athletics in Olympic history, a whopping EIGHT of them have been in the Relays. Indeed, Nigeria has at least one Relay medal at every Olympic Games where the team has won medals in Track & Field. This is why Team Nigeria must be looking at the new annual World Relays as a competition in which to target medals every year. Excitingly, the scarcely run 4×200 metres will also be contested at the event, and this should provide an additional incentive to revive Athletics, and Sprinting in particular, in Nigeria!

Nigeria’s success in the Relays was built on the bedrock of a great sprinting culture and tradition, but in recent years this tradition has been in danger of extinction. Nigeria has not won an Olympic Relay medal since Beijing ’08, and you’d have to go all the way back to 1997 for the nation’s last World Championship Relay medal. The secret to winning Relay medals is having strength in depth – in the 100 metres, 3 or 4 men who can run sub-10 seconds, 3 or 4 women who can run sub-11 seconds. In the 400 metres, 3 or 4 men who can run 45 seconds and 3 or 4 women who can run 50 seconds. From the early nineties to the early 2000’s, Nigeria had a depth of athletes in each event of these events, dropping these times and winning Relay medals, but not anymore. Over the next 10 days we’ll bring you the videos of the medal-winning races and the stories behind them!

The World Relays is a new annual competition (being held in The Bahamas in 2014 & 2015), where the world’s best Track & Field nations will compete over 10 different events – 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m & 4x1500m (both men and  women). There is a total prize fund of $1.4  million up for grabs, and for the 4x100m & 4x400m, the 2014 World Relays will serve as the qualifiers for the 2015 World Championships (as will the 2015 World Relays for the 2016 Olympics). For viewers in Nigeria and Africa, the World Relays will show LIVE on SuperSports on May 24th/25th – more details on that soon!

During the recently concluded Ibile Games (Lagos State Sports Festival), Making of Champions Founder, Bambo Akani, sat down with Nigeria’s 60 metre National Record Holder, Deji Aliu, to discuss his time competing for Nigeria, and a brand new Track Club he has set up in Lagos to train athletes. Here is Part I of that Interview – enjoy!

How did you get started in Athletics?

Like every other athlete, I started in secondary school and then I went to a certain competition where I met my coach, the late Abel Akhigbe, who invited me over to the stadium, and I started training with him. From there, I was opportuned to compete at the Lagos State Secondary School Games. So I started at a Games just like this Ibile Games (Lagos State Sports Festival) taking place right now.

How did you come to represent Nigeria at the International level?

My Nigeria career started at the Junior (U-20) level in 1992. I represented Nigeria at the World Junior Championships in South Korea, where we won the Bronze in the 4×100 metres. In ’94, I went to my second World Junior Championships in Portugal, where I won the GOLD in the 100 metres, and Silver in the 200 metres.

So you’re a World Junior Champion?

Yes, I’m a World Junior Champion. I have 3 medals in total from the World Juniors – GOLD, Silver & Bronze.

Tell us about the rest of your Nigeria career.

From ’94, I moved over to the Commonwealth Games. Though I was not able to get a medal there, I made it to the finals. After that I represented Nigeria is almost every international competition, from the Olympics to the World Championships, to the World Indoors – you name it.

What would you say is the greatest moment of your career?

Winning an Olympic Bronze Medal I think is great, but as an athlete running (the 100 metres) under 10 seconds might be greater. I don’t know which is greater, but those are the two greatest achievements of my career.

What was your PB in the 100 metres? How many times did you run under 10 seconds?

My PB was 9.95 seconds. I achieved that in 2003 when I won the GOLD medal at the All-Africa Games in Abuja. I ran sub-10 seconds three times – the first time was I did it was at a Golden League meet in Athens in 2003, and then the second time was at the National Trials in Abuja, then the third one was the 9.95 at the All-Africa Games.

Tell us about that Olympic Bronze Medal ten years ago. If memory serves correctly, that was the last time Nigeria had THREE guys who could go under 10 seconds?

The 2004 Olympic Bronze Medal had to do with unity and hardwork on the part of the four or us. We were united, committed, and our spirits were very high. The team was well coordinated, that’s why were able to get something, I wasn’t surprised at all. The four of us (Olusoji Fasuba, Uchenna Emedolu, Aaron Egbele and myself) worked very hard for it.

When you got the baton on the anchor leg and you felt Maurice Greene next to you, what were you thinking? 

I wasn’t thinking anything…on my good day if I get the baton ahead of Maurice Greene, I don’t think he’s gonna beat me, but the thing about the relays is that you’ve got to be very very careful – you’ve got to play safe, stay in the exchange box and watch everything, so I wasn’t really concerned about Maurice, I was just concerned about myself finishing the race in the top 3 positions.

What about your exploits in the indoor competition – aren’t you one the fastest athletes in Africa’s history over the 60 metres?

Yes, I have the 2^nd fastest time in history by an African athlete, 6.48s, which also makes me the Nigerian Record Holder in the 60 metres. My best chance for a medal at the World Indoor Championships was Lisbon in 2001, where I had the 2^nd best time going into the final, but I was disqualified for a false start in the final – those were the times when the new rule stating the second (and not the first) person who false started would be disqualified, and unfortunately that was me.

Why do you think Nigeria is not producing any Olympic medallists or fast runners anymore?

Because we’re not doing a lot of things right. When we were coming up there were camps, regular competitions and the athletes were motivated, but those things are not there anymore.

Don’t we have camps right now, for the World Relays and Commonwealth Games?

When you talk about camps, it seems like the current definition of camps in Nigeria is different from our definition of camps back then. If you have a camp and it’s not producing anything or making any impact then something is wrong.

Why are the camps of today not producing athletes like the camps of before?

What they do is this – they usually call the camp about 3 or 4 weeks before the competition starts. That’s not the way it should be done. You can’t bring athletes together for 4 weeks and expect them to perform magic. Short-term camps that are called just before competitions simply cannot produce good athletes. If you want to have a camp to produce great athletes they need to be long-term camps, where you start training the athletes from the build-up period in the pre-season, to the in-season. That’s what we’re not getting right. If we can fix our camps in Nigeria, we will start producing fast athletes again!

Tune in next week for the conclusion of the interview with Deji Aliu, where he tells about about the Akhigbe Track Club, which he set up recently to train athletes in Lagos!

The 1st leg of the 2014 International Diamond League Circuit was completed in Doha on Friday (May 9th), and the race of focus for Nigerian fans was undoubtedly the women’s 100m, where the fast finishing Blessing Okagbare posted 11.18s but was ultimately held off by Jamaica’s ‘Pocket Rocket’, Double Olympic Champion Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, who clinched the win in 11.13s:

Fraser-Pryce thus stretched her head-to-head in the 100m with Okagbare to 13-3, but the Nigerian Double World Championship Medallist keeps getting closer and it will be interesting to see if she will be able to beat Fraser-Pryce this season, especially when it matters the most at the Commonwealth Games, where both athletes are expected to attempt the 100m/200m double! One thing is for certain, Blessing will need a more explosive start so that she doesn’t have too much ground to make up in the final stages of their match-ups.

While Okagbare was the only athlete representing Nigeria in Doha, there were a couple of former Nigerian Athletes representing their adopted nations very well. The biggest surprise of the night was undoubtedly in the 400m Hurdles, where the virtually unknown Kemi Adekoya, in her first race representing Bahrain, won convincingly ahead of a world class field in 54.59s, in the process setting a new National Record and a world leading time this season! That she did this from Lane 1 should serve as an ominous sign for her rivals in the 400m hurdles this season. It is a travesty the Team Nigeria cannot get the best out of our amazingly talented athletes, and that they have to seek greener pastures elsewhere to start fulfilling their great potential. What are we doing wrong? Here is what Adekoya had to say after her win (in her unmistakably Nigerian accent):

Finally, Nickel Ashmeade and Warren Weir made it a Jamaican 1-2 in the men’s 200 metres, but the third place finisher was Qatari athlete Femi Ogunode, who finished in a very respectable 20.38s. You guessed it – Ogunode is yet another Nigerian flying the flag for Qatar, whom he has competed for since 2010. He followed the footsteps of Asian 100m Record Holder Samuel Francis, who made the same switch in 2007 and promptly became the fastest man ever in Asia with the only sub-10 run (9.99s) in their history! Ogunode has already had a fantastic indoor season this year, where he won Bronze in the 60 metres at the the World Indoor Championships in March in a time of 6.52s. Interestingly, Femi’s younger brother, Tosin Ogunode, made his debut for Qatar this year, and promptly became the Asian 60m Record Holder with a time of 6.50s!

When will Nigeria start getting the best of out of our athletes and keep them competing for the Green-White-Green of the nation? Post/tweet with the hashtag #FormerNigerianAthletes to join in the discussion on the Making of Champions Facebook & Twitter pages!

The International Diamond League circuit is back for 2014! The first leg of the annual 14-city competition kicks off in Doha, Qatar tomorrow (Friday May 9th). Outside the major competitions (Olympics, World Championships, etc), the Diamond League is the competition that the world’s very best athletes compete in each year for prize money, and for a chance to be crowned the ‘Diamond Race’ winner in their respective events!

The highlight for Nigeria fans on Friday will undoubtedly be the women’s 100m where Nigeria’s Double World Championship Medallist, Blessing Okagbare will face-off against Jamaica’s Double 100m Olympic Champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. The Jamaican leads in the 100m head-to-head record between the two by 12-3, with Okagbare’s most notable victory coming during the London Anniversary Games last year, when she lowered the 14-year old African 100m record, twice in the same day, to 10.86s and then 10.79s! That said, Fraser-Pryce, as the current 100m Olympic and World Champion, has made it count when it mattered the most.

Okagbare started her 100m season with a solid 11.19s run into a strong headwind on Saturday at the Jamaica Invitational in Kingston, while Fraser-Pryce opted for the 200m in that same event, winning in 22.53s. Given that Fraser-Pryce has already been quoted as saying that Okagbare will be her strongest competition at the Commonwealth Games this year, it will be interesting to follow their head-to-heads throughout the Diamond League season! How close can Blessing get to the world’s most decorated female athlete?

For Nigerian viewers, SuperSport 9 (DSTV Channel 209) will show the Doha Diamond League meet LIVE from 5 – 7pm Nigerian time tomorrow. The women’s 100m is scheduled for 6.09pm, so be sure to tune in to see Okagbare race Fraser-Pryce, and a bevy of other top track stars, including Jamaica’s Kerron Stewart, and the American trio of Alexandria Anderson, English Gardner and Barbara Pierre!

Other races of interest tomorrow? USA’s 400m World Champion, LeShawn Merritt should lead all comers in the men’s 400m at 5.26pm, while Jamaica’s 200m Olympic Bronze Medallist, Warren Weir, should take the men’s 200m at 6.36pm – do look out for Nigerian-born Qatari athlete, Femi Ogunode in that race too!

Making of Champions will be bringing you special updates and reports ahead of, during and after each Diamond League event in 2014, with a particular focus on Nigeria’s leading athletes such as Blessing Okagbare and Regina George – stay tuned!

2014 IAAF Diamond League calendar

Doha, QAT – 9 May
Shanghai, CHN – 18 May
Eugene, USA – 31 May
Rome, ITA – 5 Jun
Oslo, NOR – 11 Jun
New York, USA – 14 Jun
Lausanne, SUI – 3 Jul
Paris, FRA – 5 Jul
Glasgow, GBR – 11-12 Jul
Monaco, MON – 18 Jul
Stockholm, SWE – 21 Aug
Birmingham, GBR – 24 Aug
Zurich, SUI – 28 Aug
Brussels, BEL – 5 Sep

The Ibile Games, the Lagos State Sports Festival involving up to 162 secondary schools participating in Athletics, Basketball, Football, Boxing, Table Tennis and many other sports kicked off last Wednesday (April 30th), but it would seem that most Lagosians are not aware that the games are going on, and this has led to low attendances at most events so far. Indeed, Vanguard news reported on Sunday that Lagosians have shunned the Ibile Games, but it is more likely (as the article later hints) that most Lagosians don’t actually know that it is happening! A member of the Local Organising Committee for the Games was quoted as saying “The low turnout of spectators cannot be as a result of poor publicity. We organised street shows, billboards, banners and radio jingles to announce the Games. The spectators may have other reasons which can be mere apathy.”

Lagosians – what do you think? Why aren’t you attending the games? Is it because you hadn’t heard about them, or is it that you have no interest in attending and supporting Nigeria’s future sports stars? Tweet @MakingOfChamps and connect with us on Facebook with the hashtag #IbileGames2014 – we want to hear from you!

The Making of Champions team will be at the Ibile Games later in the week, to report on the Athletics, which is the sport with by far the most entries, with 129 schools entering (compared to 104 for Table Tennis, 53 for Basketball, and 33 for Boxing). Athletics will take place at the mainbowl of Teslim Balogun Stadium from Wednesday May 7th to Friday May 9th, with an additional day for the Athletics Finals on Saturday May 10th, during the final weekend of the Games! Come out to support Nigeria’s future CHAMPIONS!

Can Team Naija return to winning ways at the Olympics?  Follow@makingofchamps on Instagram and Twitter, and like Facebook.com/makingofchamps, to be part of #LetsMakeChamps, the exciting new Social Media Campaign for MAKING OF CHAMPIONS, Nigeria’s new Olympic movement to create Champions in Track & Field!

It would seem that Blessing Okagbare, Nigeria’s No 1 sprinting talent, is already returning to fine form for the 2014 Athletics Season. Last night she featured in the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational meet in Kingston, where she completely blew the rest of the world-class field away in a time of 11.19s. She looks set to provide a strong challenge to Jamaica’s Double 100m Olympic Champion, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, for 100m GOLD at the Commonwealth Games in July/August!

In some quarters, Saturday’s race had been billed as a showdown between Okagbare and Fraser-Pryce, but the Jamaican opted for the 200 metres instead, winning in a time of 22.53s. Despite not going head-to-head with Fraser-Pryce in Kingston, Okagbare still had some worthy competition in the 100 metres, including Jamaica’s 100m Silver Medallist from the Beijing Olympics, Kerron Stewart, and America’s up and coming athletes, English Gardner and Alexandria Anderson, both Silver Medallists for Team USA in the 4x100m Relay at the 2013 World Championships.

The winning time of 11.19s may not seem super-impressive at first glance, but it should be noted that the race was run into a headwind of -1.7m/s, so in better conditions, Okagbare’s race on Saturday would be much closer to 11 seconds flat – a great run to start her 100 metre season. As one can see from this race, Blessing is usually not the fastest starter but if she’s still in the mix after 60 metres, she has the best top speed in women’s sprinting, which helps her breeze past the opposition in the final stages of the race! If her form continues this way, she’ll be a sure bet for Commonwealth Games medals in the 100m & 200m (and the Long Jump too) come August – does she have what it takes to beat Fraser-Pryce to GOLD in either race? We won’t have long to wait to find out!

Can Team Naija return to winning ways at the highest level of sprinting? Follow@makingofchamps on Instagram and Twitter, and like Facebook.com/makingofchamps, to be part of #LetsMakeChamps, the exciting new Social Media Campaign for MAKING OF CHAMPIONS, Nigeria’s new Olympic movement to create Champions in Track & Field!

The news broke yesterday that former 100m & 200m Double World Champion, the joint 2nd fastest man in history, Tyson Gay, has received a reduced one-year doping ban, for testing positive for a banned anabolic steroid at the US World Championship Trials last year. In Track & Field, taking anabolic steroids to enhance performance is usually seen as a more serious offence than taking banned supplements, and normally attracts a minimum ban of 2 years, which is due to increase to 4 years as of 2015.

As such, the brevity of Gay’s ban will indeed surprise many Athletics observers around the world, many of whom may well have thought that Gay’s positive test, at the ‘ripe’ age of 30, and his subsequent suspension may well have signalled the end of his illustrious sprinting career. Instead, amazingly, Tyson Gay will be eligible to return to the track as early as next month, because his 1 year ban has been back-dated to 23rd June 2013, the date of his last positive test at the US Trials last year! It is said that Gay’s immediate co-operation with the US doping officials was a factor in the leniency of his ban – when the news of his positive tests broke, he was quoted as saying “I don’t have a sabotage story…I basically put my trust in someone and was let down. I know exactly what went on, but I can’t discuss it right now. I hope I am able to run again, but I will take whatever punishment I get like a man.”

It would seem that Gay was suggesting that he did not know that whatever he was taking was banned, but knew who gave it to him. Indeed, it was later reported that he had multiple positives over a short period of time last year, which was likely seen as a sign of that he wasn’t trying to hide anything, but simply didn’t know he was taking a banned drug. Despite his initial ignorance and subsequent co-operation, many will argue that the leniency of the ban will send the wrong message to Drug Cheats all over the world – simply plead ignorance, co-operate, and by the time your case is heard, you’ll be ready to compete again. Essentially, the length of his ban for taking anabolic steroids is akin to nothing more than one-season injury layoff, in terms of his time out on the sidelines. Is this the right signal to drug cheats, given that the same offence will attract a 4-year ban as of next year? 

Even Asafa Powell and Sherone Simpson, Jamaican star athletes who last year tested positive for banned supplement Oxilofrine, last month received 18-month bans and will be eligible to compete again by the end of the year, though Powell has vowed to clear his name. If they got 18 months for a banned supplement, should Gay really have received just 1 year for an anabolic steroid, which it turns out that he may have been taking as far back as the London 2012 Olympics? Indeed, he has returned his Olympic 4x100m Silver Medal, as it has now been revealed that all his results since 15 July 2012, the date he first used a product containing a banned substance, have been annulled. Only time will tell if all USA’s 4x100m team will be stripped of that Silver medal, much like they were stripped of the 4x400m Gold at Sydney 2000, for which Nigeria was eventually awarded the GOLD medal after the late Antonio Pettigrew admitted to using banned substances during that period.

Considering that the next major competition for US athletes will be the World Championships in August 2015, an 18-month or 2-year ban will have still allowed him to return in time for that. One thing is for certain, despite being the fastest American in history, the rest of his career will likely be shrouded in skepticism by his positive drugs test and suspension, even if he is able to return to the dizzying speeds he once reached, and beat the likes of Usain Bolt again! THREE of Team USA’s current active sprinters, Justin Gatlin, Mike Rodgers and now Tyson Gay have now all received drug bans at some stage of their careers – despite Jamaica’s recent troubles, the Islanders look set to continue dominating the global sprinting landscape for some time to come!

That said, the fact that even the most high profile athletes are getting caught for drug offences, should hopefully convince other sprinting nations currently in the doldrums, such as Nigeria, that the playing field has been levelled significantly, and that we can compete with the world’s best if we want to. Can Team Naija return to winning ways at the highest level of sprinting? Follow @makingofchamps on Instagram and Twitter, and like Facebook.com/makingofchamps to be part of #LetsMakeChamps, the exciting new Social Media Campaign for MAKING OF CHAMPIONS, Nigeria’s new Olympic movement to create Champions in Track & Field!

Regina George anchors 4x400m women to 2nd place with storming final leg run!

The annual Penn Relays took place in the US over the weekend, and Team Nigeria’s recently hired Relay Co-ordinator, former 100m world record holder Maurice Greene, will have been given some insight into Nigeria’s chances at the upcoming inaugural World Relays competition set to take place in the Bahamas on May 24th/25th. The brightest story for Team Nigeria coming out of the Penn Relays undoubtedly was the 2nd place finish of the 4x400m women’s team in a time of 3:27.16, helped in no small part by current 2-time Nigeria 400m CHAMPION, Regina George, who received the baton on the anchor leg nearly 2 seconds behind Team USA and Jamaica, but ran an amazing 50.49s split to overhaul Jamaica’s Shericka Williams in the final metres, to finish 2nd behind Team USA! With some improvement, Nigeria’s 4x400m women look set to challenge the likes of Team GB and Jamaica for Relay medals in the 4x400m at the Commonwealth Games in July/August. George also looks set to soon become Nigeria’s first sub-50 second Quarter-Miler since the likes of Falilat Ogunkoya, Fatima Yusuf and Charity Opara in the 90’s, who were part of Nigeria’s awesome 4x400m Olympic Silver Medal winning team of Atlanta ’96, where they just lost out to Team USA for the GOLD in a breath-taking race!

Regina George’s unravelling story as a potential future Olympic and World Championship medallist for Nigeria is both intriguing and inspiring – born in the US, she competed as a Junior for Team USA at the World Junior Championships in 2010 (where she was beaten by 2 Nigerians in the 400m final), before making the switch to her fatherland Nigeria. She has since then instantly become Nigeria’s number one 400m Athlete, winning the Nigerian 400m title in both 2012 and 2013. She is certainly one of Nigeria’s brightest hopes for an individual Olympic Medal at Rio 2016, and Making of Champions covered her amazing story last year in this insightful interview highlighting her accomplishments so far in the Green of Nigeria (below)!  All Team Nigeria fans should get behind Regina George and encourage her as she continues to do the country proud –  one can only hope that she posts some amazing times in 2014 and wins a Commonwealth Games medal that will get her more attention in Nigeria, and more support in her quest to be a medal contender at Rio 2016!

The men’s relay teams for Nigeria unfortunately did not perform as well as the women’s 4x400m at the Penn Relays this past weekend. The men’s 4x400m finished in 5th place out of 5 teams in a time of 3:05.05, over 4 seconds behind the Golden Knights of the Bahamas (of London 2012 GOLD medal fame), and over 6 seconds behind the Nigerian and African Record (2:58.68), set by the Gold medal winning team from the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The men’s 4x100m also finished 6th out of 6 teams, in a time of 39.89s, which happens to be slower than the current Jamaican Schoolboy Relay record, held by a secondary school called Calabar High School in Jamaica (that’s a story for another time)…here’s another story of the weekend from a Nigerian perspective – a cursory look at the roster for Team Qatar, which finished in 5th place (Tosin Ogunode, Samuel Francis, Femi Ogunode, Eid Al-Kuwari) will show the obvious, that THREE of them are Nigerians, including Samuel Francis, who is the Asian 100m Record Holder at 9.99s! 

Imagine how good Team Naija would be if we kept all our best athletes competing for Nigeria?