Incredible! Three different Nigerians hold the 100m sprint records for Africa, Asia and Europe

Three different Nigerian-born track champions are the fastest men for Africa, Asia and Europe.

Nigeria’s Olusoji A. Fasuba celebrates after winning the men’s 60m final at the 12th IAAF World Indoor Athletics Championship in Valencia March 7, 2008. REUTERS/Eric Gaillard (SPAIN)

That’s right—one country on one continent has three different athletes representing three different continents. How to explain this? You can blame a badly-run sports administration and a scarcity of resources needed to keep finely-tuned athletes at the top level. And, of course, personal ambition is also a factor.

Take the case of the European record holder, Francis Obikwelu, 36, who left his homeland as a teenager and settled in Portugal. He continued to represent Nigeria until 2001. The circumstances that led him to switch nationality were unfortunate. After he suffered a career-threatening injury at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the Athletics Federation of Nigerian abandoned the star in his hour of need. Not only had he to foot the medical bills himself but he also spent a few months in hospital recuperating after surgery complications led to a blood clot. A year later he became a naturalized Portuguese citizen. His silver medal performance at the 2004 Athens Olympics was his career best, as he set a European record of 9.86 seconds. The record is still standing.

Francis Obikwelu

Asia’s fastest man is Femi Ogunode, 24. He has said the move to become a Qatari national in 2010 was a calculated risk that paid off. He alleges nepotism and corruption in Nigerian athletics. Last year, he set a career best of 9.93 seconds at the Asian Games. This April he ran a few seconds faster to set the Asian record of 9.91 seconds at the Asian Athletics Championships.

The one who stayed is sprint master Olusoji Fasuba, 30, whose 9.85 second record is yet to be broken since 2006. This was one hundredth of a second better than the old record of 9.86 seconds that was set by Namibian track and field legend Frankie Fredericks a decade earlier. Fasuba is currently the ninth fastest 100m runner ever with a time below the 10-second mark.

Femi Ogunode

It’s becoming something of a more frequent narrative for African athletes to leave their home countries and switch nationalities after facing perennial frustrations with how their local sports bodies are managed. Career civil servants with no sporting background bungle the administration of the sport by turning them into citadels of corruption and inefficiency.

 In 2011, the African 100m record holder, Fasuba, predicted African sprinters will continue to be underachievers unless they get proper training facilities and adequate remuneration. As a result well-funded athletic bodies from rich countries eager to be competitive and boost their national pride by any means necessary exploit the situation by coming to lure Africa’s young talent.

QuartzAfrica

Diamond League: Okagbare wins 100m in Shanghai

Despite not beginning the Diamond League season in Doha, Qatar last week, Blessing Okagbare got her season underway with a win at the 2015 Shanghai Diamond League on Sunday.

Okagbare, who won the long jump and 200m events in Shanghai last year, arrived at a time of 10.98 seconds ahead a star-studded line-up that included Olympic champion, Shelly Ann Fraser-Pryce, and other Jamaicans and Americans.

USA’s Tori Bowie came second after finishing with a personal best of 11.07 secs, Michelle-Lee Ahye of Trinidad and Tobago, who clocked 11.13 secs,was third, while Veronica Campbell-Brown was fourth with 11.22 secs and Fraser-Pryce finished fifth in 11.25secs.

Blessing Okagbare – Currently Nigeria’s most prolific athlete.

Sunday’s result was an improvement for Okagbare this season after she finished second in a time of 11.05 secs at the Jamaica International Invitational last week.

With the end of the Shanghai meet on Sunday, the Diamond League series will resume on May 30 in Eugene, USA.

“My race was pretty good,” Okagbare said after the event. “It is not easy to compete with the best of the world – but I won. I focused on my start. Normally I don’t have the best start, but now I was leading from the beginning.”

Blessing Okagbare is currently Nigeria’s most prolific athlete and one of allt-ime bests. Her portfolio of records include

• 1 x Olympic Games Bronze medallist
• 1 x World Championships Silver medallist
• 1 x World Championships Bronze medallist
• 1 x All-Africa Games Gold medallist
• 2 x All-Africa Games Silver medallist
• 6 x African Championships Gold medallist
• 1 x African Championships Silver medallist
• 3 x Olympic Games finalist
• 5 x World Championships finalist
• 10 x Diamond League meeting winner
• 2 x Current African Record holder – 100m, 4x200m

“It was one of those races,” she said. “I have time to get it right.”

Asked if she would now have her work cut out in defending her title in Beijing later in the year, Fraser-Pryce said, “I always have my work cut out. No one hands anything to you.”

Fraser-Pryce
Credit: scmp.com

Triple jumper, Tosin Oke, has commended the organisers of the Doha Diamond League. Oke, who went out in the first round at the Doha meet, attributed his performance to rustiness.

He tweeted on Sunday, “The @dldoha was truly world class from the organisation, medical staff through to the competition and performances. It was great to be a part.

“My race was pretty good. It is not easy to compete with the best of the world – but I won.” – Okagbare after the event

“I did my best ever opener in round 1, but did not get to show my worth that day due to being rusty. I am looking forward to the next one.”

Tosin Oke
Credits: athelticsafrica.com

In Port Harcourt, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria will take a major step in its plan to develop young talents and also provide a good training environment for star athletes who are based in the country as it commissions a High Performance Centre at the University of Port Harcourt on May 25.

The centre which is equipped with standard facilities also has quality accommodation for athletes. The President of the Confederation of Africa Athletics Hamad Kalkaba Malboum and the AFN president Solomon Ogba are expected to declare the centre open.

Credits:

http://www.punchng.com/sports/diamond-league-okagbare-wins-100m-in-shanghai/

http://www.diamondleague.com/athletes/14292330.html

Nigeria: Okagbare Leads Nigeria to Win World Relays Gold

Nigerian quartet of Blessing Okagbare, Regina George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh on Saturday night emerged as the 4x200m World Relay champions and also set a new national record of 1:30.52seconds.

It was a race where the Allyson Felix-led USA and a Jamaican team comprising the likes of Veronica Campbell-Brown were favoured to carry the first two positions, but Team Nigeria dusted the favourites to take the limelight and claim the top spot.

Blessing Okagbare – Currently Nigeria’s most prolific athlete.

World Championships’ 200m bronze medallist, Blessing Okagbare got Nigeria off to a perfect start in lane 4.

By the time she handed the baton to Regina George it was getting clearer that she had closed the gap on the Team Bahamas in lane 5. She safely handed the baton to Duncan, who ran the third leg well, to give 2012 Olympian for Nigeria, Udoh, the lead to defend in the final 200 metres.

Udoh was able to hold off the approaching Bahamians at the end, who were later disqualified, leaving Sherone Simpson to bring Jamaica home in second in 1:31.73s, with Germany finishing in 3rd in 1:33.61s. Team USA did not finish the race, as Jeneba Tarmoh and Alysson Felix collided on their final changeover.

George had decided to sit out the women’s 4x400m just minutes earlier to stay fresh for the 4x200m.

Okagbare will be hoping to lead Team Nigeria to yet another medal in the women’s 4x100m this time, after missing out on bronze by a hundredth of a second last year.

Nigeria’s 4x400m men, comprising Orukpe Erayokan, Robert Simmons, Amaechi Morton and Miles Ukoama finished 7th in Heat 2 in 3:06.92s, while the 4x400m women, parading a much changed quartet from the bronze medal winning team last year – Rita Ossai, Patience Okon George, Ibukun Mayungbe and Ngozi Onwumere could only manage 4th in Heat 1 in a time of 3:32.16, also missing out on the finals and an automatic place in the 4x400m at the Rio Olympics next year.

Okagbare will be hoping to lead Team Nigeria to yet another medal in the women’s 4x100m this time, after missing out on bronze by a hundredth of a second last year. If the team can finish in the top 8 they will gain an automatic qualifying spot for the Rio Olympics.