Winning relay medal will be tough for Nigerians: athletics official
22/8/2008 17:40
As the relay events began at the Beijing Olympic Games, the former
president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has predicted that it
will be tough for Team Nigeria to win a medal, local media reported
today.
Nigeria used to be very strong in the sprint events, but recently has
seen its ratings by the International Association of Athletics Federation (IAAF)
drop consistently.
Former AFN President Adeyemi-Wilson said that unless the
team gets its acts together, it cannot win any relay medal at the ongoing
Olympics.
"Our only hope is in the relays and if we do not get our acts
together, it is going to be very tough," he said. "I watched the Ethiopian girl
winning the 10,000 meters race and my conclusion was that we should start
focusing on what we know best."
"I have always opposed spending millions of
naira (the Nigerian currency) on sponsorship of marathons. We should immediately
set up training camps for sprints, jumps and throws in preparation for the 2012
Olympics," he said.
"We can also use part of the money from the National
Lottery to train our athletes. The Niger Delta Development Commission should
also wake up and sponsor sports in the nine oil-producing states. It will go a
long way in reducing militancy by the youths," he added.
Adeyemi-Wilson also
urged the armed forces and the paramilitary to develop sportsmen and women for
the country, stating that the command schools can produce highly disciplined
sportsmen and women for the nation.
He said:"Please, appeal to the
governments -- federal, state and local -- to start programs, beginning from
now, so that we do not continue performing poorly at international arena."
"I
read that the Kenyan male athletes have so far won 16 gold medals at the
previous Olympics, while their female athletes have not won any. But camps have
now been set up for young female athletes so that they too can be golden! It is
a challenge to us," he said.
Xinhua
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