Nigeria Content Online

Though
many still believe the country is capable of better performances than
it actually did in 2010, the exploits of female athletes in the country
accounts for most successes recorded in Track and Field within the year.

From the African
Championships held in Nairobi Kenya, to the inaugural Youth Olympics in
Singapore, it was mostly the female athletes who made the headlines. The
men were left to play catch-up, save for a few, who distinguished
themselves.

Just like the preceding year, Nigeria was enmeshed in drug scandals in 2010 with three athletes —

Damola Osayomi,
Samuel Okon and Folashade Abugan — found guilty of doping offences at
the Commonwealth Games. All three are to serve bans for their acts.

Despite the
successes recorded, many argue that the Athletics Federation has not
fared any better as complaints about neglect, unpaid allowances,
inadequate preparations and unprofessionalism still persist.

Queen of the tracks

Against the odds, Blessing Okagbare emerged as arguably the country’s top performer of the year.

Though she missed
the Commonwealth Games in India and the World Championships in Doha —
two places many had expected her to test her true might, the University
of Texas, El Paso student stands tall amongst her peers.

Okagbare won the US
national Indoor titles in the 60 metres, grabbed top honours in the long
jump and broke the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA)
Championships meet record twice this year.

Three months later,
Okagbare, added NCAA crowns during the outdoor season in the 100 metres
and long jump, becoming the first in collegiate history to pull off such
a feat.

She was undefeated
in all sprint and jump finals during the season and drew the curtain on
her collegiate career with four national titles, 11 All-America honours
and 15 Conference USA championships in 2010.

Those remarkable
feats earned Okagbare the 2010 Conference USA Female Athlete of the
Year, while she was also awarded both the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Track
Athlete and Mountain Region Field Athlete of the Year during the indoor
season and the Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year for the
outdoor season.

“It really means a
lot to me simply for the fact that I am not an American and for them to
award that to me means so much to me,” Okagbare said.

League debut

In July 2010,
Okagbare made her Diamond League debut in Eugene, setting a PB over 100m
(11.03) before heading to Europe where she first improved her 200m PB
to 22.71 seconds in Lignano and then clocked 11.10 seconds in Monaco
four days later), confirming her good shape before heading to Nairobi
for the 17th African Athletics Championships.

After arriving in
Nairobi as the new face of African sprinting, Okagbare did not
disappoint, carting away three gold medals in the 100m, Long Jump and
the 4x100m relay whilst erasing the previous Africa 100m Championship
record of 11.05 seconds in the process. Her 11.03 seconds clocking also
equalled her personal best set earlier in July.

In all, Okagbare and
the other female athletes won seven of the eight gold, three of the
five silver, and three of the five bronze medals Nigeria won at that
championships.

After the African
Championships in Nairobi, Okagbare improved her 100m PB to 11.00
seconds, beating American 2009 World Championships bronze medallist
Carmelita Jeter in the heats. She eventually finished third in the final
in 11.10 seconds, at the Aviva London Grand Prix in Crystal Palace on
August 14th.

So much more

The year definitely
was not all about Okagbare as other athletes like Ajoke Odumosu, gold
medallist in the 400m hurdles event at the Commonwealth Games also gave
the country something to cheer about.

At the inaugural
Youth Olympics in Singapore, it was the duo of Josephine Omaka and
Florence Nwakwe who wrote the country’s name in gold winning the 100m
and 200m events respectively.

Seun Adigun,
Margaret Etim, Bukola Agbokunloko, Damola Osayomi amongst others also
gave the country something to cheer at different times.

While acknowledging
the exploits of the women, Ogho-Oghene Egwero, one of the country’s top
athletes said the male athletes also gave their best but just did not
get it right like the ladies.

“We all tired our
best each time we represent the country but you can only give what you
have. I hope we do much better next year. For me, I have set some
targets for myself which I have already started working on. With the
support of everybody, 2011 will be much better” Egwero said.

For 400m runner, Biola Onakoya who was plagued by injury and neglected by the federation, the coming year will also be good one.

“The season was not
too bad after having an ankle injury and being neglected by everyone
including the federation, thank God for Nigeria Security & Civil
Defence Corps that came to my aid if not I could have left athletics. I
have started training in preparation for the upcoming season and I
believe God will lead me to the promise land. May God help Nigeria
Athletics,” Onakoya said.

Last man standing

It wasn’t all gloom
for the men. London -based jumper, Tosin Oke could best be described as
the revelation of the year after coming from obscurity to win both the
African title and the Commonwealth Games gold in the triple Jump event
where many least expected any medal.

His feat in India
ended a 44-year gold drought at the Commonwealth Games. The 30-year-old
is the first Nigeria’s gold medallist in the event since Samuel Igun won
in 1966.

Looking ahead

In his own
assessment, Obinna Ogba, President of the Athletics Federation of
Nigeria (AFN) rated athletics in 2010 high compared to what obtained in
the last three years.

For the New Year 2011, he stated that the Federation will begin the season with a Junior Programme.

“Next year we are starting the junior programme in February and it is
named after Dr. D.K Olukoya, he is going to be taking over the
sponsorship of the junior programme,” he said. He added that the
federation will also put the necessary machinery in place to prepare
well for both the All African Games and World Championships.