Making of Champions

Nigeria’s 6th Global Relay Medal was also the 2nd and last Relay Medal that Team Nigeria has won at the World Championships. The men’s 4x100m Silver that Nigeria won at Athens ’97 was during an era that both Canada and indeed Nigeria were still forces in global sprinting. Team Nigeria’s quartet of Osmond Ezinwa, Olapade Adeniken, Francis Obikwelu and Davidson Ezinwa finished 2nd to a Canadian team that was anchored by the 1996 Olympic 100m Champion, Donovan Bailey. Nigeria had the lead briefly as the anchor leg runners entered the final straight,but Bailey overhauled Davidson Ezinwa to win Canada’s third straight 4×100 metre global title (after Gothenburg ’95 World Championships and Atlanta ’96 Olympic Games)! This time, we have to make do with watching the Nigeria team in the shadows of the coverage of Team Canada:

The Ezinwa twins and Adeniken were surviving members of the class of ’92 that won the Olympic Silver medal behind the then World Record set by the Carl Lewis-anchored Team USA. Obikwelu was the new member of the quartet who helped to usher in another generation of great sub-10 runners for Nigeria, from 1997 to 2004. Sadly for Nigeria, Obikwelu would go on to switch to Portugal in 2001, and eventually won an Olympic Silver medal for them at Athens 2004! His story is chronicled in the upcoming feature-length documentary, Making of Champions: “The History”.

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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!

Blessing Okagbare demonstrated complete dominance of both the Long Jump and 200 metre fields in the 2nd leg of this year’s Diamond League, which took place earlier today (Sunday) in Shanghai. She won the Long Jump with her very first jump, in a new Meeting Record (MR) of 6.86 metres. She proceeded to only take 3 of her 6 allotted jumps, to conserve her energy for the 200 metres a couple of hours later, which she won comfortably in yet another MR of 22.36s, just 0.05s off her personal best in the event!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUpVq-y6spc

One could say that Okagbare has come of age with these TWO dominant displays of her raw power and speed. One might recall that in the World Championships last year, she took all 6 jumps while winning the Silver medal in the Long Jump, but was not able to recover well for the 100 metres semi-finals and finals the following day, where she finished in a disappointing (by her standards) 6th place. It would seem that not only is she getting stronger, with TWO commanding victories on the same night, but she is also competing smarter, by forfeiting her final 3 jumps in the Long Jump, so that she had enough left in the tank for the 200m. She had reportedly planned a similar strategy at the World Championships, but one can imagine that when a World Title was on the line and she was in the Silver medal position, she would undoubtedly have been compelled to take every single jump in attempting to win the GOLD (she missed out on it by 1 centimetre to USA’s Brittany Reese)!

Unfortunately, Jamaica’s Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce pulled out of the 200m race in Shanghai at the last minute, so we were denied another head-to-head between these two great athletes. This year’s Diamond League is shaping up to be an extremely tasty prospect for Blessing Okagbare, the world’s busiest athlete on the Diamond League circuit, as she attempts to win the Diamond League race for THREE different events: 100m, 200m & Long Jump! With these wins today, she is already top of the 200m & Long Jump leaders’ boards with 4 points each, and she is currently 2nd in the 100m behind Fraser-Pryce, with 2 points! One thing is for certain, both Chioma Ajunwa’s African Long Jump Record (7.12 metres) and Mary Onyali’s African 200m Record (22.07s) are under serious threat from Blessing – can she break one or both of them this season? She already took Glory Alozie’s 100m African Record last year, with 10.86s and 10.79s runs at the London Anniversary Games!

Nigeria’s Regina George, could only manage 8th place in 51.39s, in a stacked women’s 400 metre race which was won by Jamaica’s Novlene Williams-Mills in 50.31s. Considering that all the other athletes in the field have significantly better PBs than George, this should not be viewed as a disappointment for her. This season is still early, and if she can get close to and beyond her PB of 50.84s, she’ll be back in the mix in future races! Let’s hope that she can re-produce the form that she has shown as a 4x400m Relay runner, with anchor leg splits of 50.5s for Nigeria at the Penn Relays last month, and a sub-50 second split in the Semi-Finals of the World Championships last year.

Be sure to follow @MakingOfChamps on Twitter and like facebook.com/makingofchamps for all your Diamond League updates this season, including TV schedules, live twitter & facebook updates, with a special focus on athletes representing Nigeria!

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

Nigeria’s 4th Global Relay Medal, and our first ever Relay medal at the World Championships, came at the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg in the men’s 4×400 metres. The Nigerian Quartet that brought home the Bronze was made up of Udeme Ekpeyong, Kunle Adejuyibe, Jude Monye and Sunday Bada (RIP), who ran a storming final leg, picking up the baton in 6th place seemingly out of contention, but bringing Team Nigeria home in 3rd!

Sunday Bada was probably Nigeria’s most decorated male athlete – he was the Nigerian National 400m Champion a record 9 times, a World Indoor 400m Champion & Double Silver Medallist, an Olympic GOLD Medallist in the 4x400m (more on that in the coming days!), and a World Championship Bronze Medallist in the 4x400m, thanks to this amazing anchor leg run in Gothenburg! He was fifth in the 400m final at the 1993 World Championships in a time of 44.63s, which makes him the second fastest Nigerian ever in the 400 metres, behind Innocent Egbunike’s 44.17s!

Sunday Bada was the Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) when he passed away suddenly at the National Stadium in Lagos in December 2011. As Nigeria’s No 1 Quarter-Miler for the best part of a decade, he is sorely missed!

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!

The second leg of the annual 14-city Diamond League competition takes place in Shanghai, China tomorrow (Sunday May 18th), and there will be two athletes representing Nigeria on show, Double World Championship Medallist, Blessing Okagbare, and Nigerian 400m Champion, Regina George!

Okagbare has had a solid start to the outdoor season, winning the 100m at the Jamaica Invitational in 11.19s, and following that with an 11.18s run at the Doha  Diamond League, where she finished in 2nd place behind Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce. This time around, Okagbare will be taking on the world’s best in the 200m, an event she won Bronze in the World Championships last year. The start-list for the 200m in Shanghai tomorrow is loaded – 200m World Champion Fraser-Pryce will be there, as will 200m Double Olympic Champion Veronica Campbell-Brown, who is returning from a period of inaction due to a provisional drug suspension which was later overturned – she is the only athlete in the field that has ever gone under 22 seconds in the event, and she’ll be looking to make up for lost time!

Blessing will also face stiff competition from the American duo of Kimberlyn Duncan and Tiffany Townsend, both of whom have better PBs than her in the 200 metres, and Bahamian 100m & 200m Junior World Champion, Anthonique Strachan, could also provide a strong challenge. That said, Okagbare’s greatest test in Shanghai will be how well she combines the 200m with the Long Jump, which she is also scheduled to compete in just a couple of hours before the 200m! Will she have time to recover for the 200m after competing in the Long Jump? Will she take all 6 jumps or try to win in fewer jumps so that she conserve her energy for the 200m? At the World Championships last year, Okagbare took the Silver in the Long Jump, but struggled to recover well for the 100 metres the following day, managing only a 6th place finish.

Regina George will be at the start-line for the 400 metres in Shanghai, and she will be up against some of the biggest names in Track & Field, including Botswana’s Amantle Montsho, and USA’s Alyson Felix, making her first appearance since her dramatic injury in the 200m World Championship finals last year. Every other athlete competing has a better PB than George (50.84s), with SIX of them having gone under 50 seconds at some point in their careers. That said, if George’s early season form from the Penn Relays last month is anything to go by, then she will give the field a run for their money – don’t bet against her setting a new PB in Shanghai!

For Nigerian viewers, SuperSport 6 (DSTV Channel 206) will show the Shanghai Diamond League meet LIVE from 1 – 3pm Nigerian tomorrow (Sunday May 18th). 

Regina George will be going in the women’s 400m at 1.36pm, while Blessing Okagbare will line up for the women’s 200m at 2.17pm

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 – 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

Nigeria’s 3rd Relay Medal was a fantastic Silver medal in the Men’s 4×100 metres at the Barcelona ’92 Games, in a race that Team Nigeria was surpassed only by a then World Record by Team USA’s ‘fantastic four’. Once again, we must tell the Nigerian story through the eyes of Americans, who have immortalised Carl Lewis and the rest of their quartet in this video:

The Nigeria quartet of Oluyemi Kayode (RIP), Chidi Imoh, Olapade Adeniken and Davidson Ezinwa  ran what was an African Record (37.98s) at the time, and they read like a who’s who in the history of Nigerian elite sprinting. These were the guys that ushered Nigeria into an era of sub-10 second sprinting. Chidi Imoh was the first African to run 10 seconds flat in the 100 metres, and even though he never broke that magical barrier, he was a 3-time African Champion in the 80’s and a 60m Bronze Medallist at the 1991 World Indoor Championships. Ezinwa and Adeniken were the first Nigerians to break the 10 second barrier and have PBs of 9.94s and 9.95s respectively – they both contested the 100m final at Barcelona ’92!

Carl Lewis, Davidson Ezinwa & Jorge Aguilera celebrate GOLD, Silver & Bronze for USA, Nigeria & Cuba respectively, as they cross the finish line in the men’s 4x100m at Barcelona ’92

Kayode was the least heralded but he’s certainly not forgotten – along with Adeniken, he contested the 200m final at the same Barcelona Olympics! To put this feat into perspective, no Nigerian man has reached the 200m Olympic finals since then! Kayode tragically lost his life in a car accident in the US in 1994 – a stadium in his home state, Ado-Ekiti, is name in his honour. Such was Nigeria’s strength in depth in sprinting in the 90’s that Davidson’s twin brother, Osmond Ezinwa (PB 10.05s) only ran in the heats at Barcelona ’92, while Victor Omagbemi, who was the African 100m & 200m Champion that very year, did not even make the team!

Today, our best athletes are struggling to run 10.30 seconds! We’re unlikely to see a renaissance in men’s sprinting and the Relays in Nigeria until we can produce 3 or 4 guys who can get close to or below the 10 second barrier. The ’92 Set were all beneficiaries of the American Collegiate system, but that route to development into World Class Sprinters has all but dried up for the majority of our athletes. Is it possible to train these guys at home, as Jamaica has so emphatically proved over the last 10 years? Only time will tell!

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 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!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6RrQaZM3zys

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!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUdiC84z9Nc

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!