The 2023 World Athletics Championship has come and gone but it was a poor outing for the Nigeria contingents in the event as none of them reached the podium.
Before the start of the competition, the Nigerians had high on Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume but it was never meant to be as they failed in their respective events.
The board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria ( AFN) Professor Emmanuel Ojeme while speaking on the performance of the team frowned at the results recorded by Team Nigeria but quickly shifted focus to future events.
“Nigeria, as a giant of Africa, should live up to its status in the sporting field. The nation must not only participate but also perform worthy of the name.
This is the burden of the Nigerian Athletics Federation.”
“Does Nigeria have the talent? Yes of course. Nigeria has a population of young people with athletic qualities.
Young people are in communities and school systems. Sports talents are identified morphologically, programmed and incubated through scientifically structured systematic activities as well as competitions horizontally and vertically by professionally trained personnel
“An essential tool required by an athlete to be successful is the personal discipline to follow prescribed dietary habits, adhere to the training program, avoid steroids and doping, adhere to skill and fitness improvement practices, avoid being overconfident, follow the instructions of coaches and trainers
And recognise performance is not what happened before but a situational manifestation of competence.”
“Budapest 2023 is expected to be a watershed moment for the development of athletics in Nigeria.
Now is the time to review our programs and practices. To ensure more productive outings in the years to come. It’s all hands on deck”, he said.
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