The first gold of the competition came to our beloved Nigerian golden girl Augustina Nwaokolo and that opened the door to a long haul of medals of different colors up until the sledge hammer of drug testing started hitting us with impunity and smearing us with the oil of shame. Medals were withdrawn, shame and disrespect replaced honor and integrity, silence became a weather we can no longer refuse but what have we learnt from it ?
A couple of months away from now another competition bigger than the Delhi Commonwealth games will be held in London( 2012 London Olympics), as usual Nigeria will be competing and the feelings and expectations are high but how well are we prepared before placing such high expectations before our athletes and coaches
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Innocent Egbunike one of the Nigerian sporting heroes is one of the chief Coaches and I know given him the necessary support, he will pull together a strong team that will represent us although one needs to mention that, given the little or no time to prepare well, our expectations might as well fade away quickly before our eyes. Yusuf Ali a former great athlete and a former President of AFN Mr.Ngerem were of the same opinion but expressed hope with Mr. Egbunike being at the helm of affairs.
It was less than five months to the competition when he took over as the head coach. Although a familiar person with the Nigeria athletics environment having involved in one way or another before now, Mr Egbunike should pay particular attention to the build up of the athletes and make sure that they are consistent with the food and drugs that are necessary for good health and not the ones that will bring shame and agony to all of us.
They must all be tested and monitored up till the last week of the competition to make sure we do not waste our time and energy on the wrong surface or allow foreign based athletes to join the camp without appropriate testing.
The athletes focus now should be on honor and integrity like the heroes of the past and stay clear of any pollutant that might make them unclean. No matter what people say, we still have examples of past dedicated athletes of high repute with international standards. The likes of Chidi Imoh,Mary Onyali, Faliliat Ogunkoya, Innocent Egbunike, the late Sunday Obada,Sunday Uti and many more are good examples of die hard patriotic and self disciplined athletes who worked hard to bring honor and fame to Nigerians and their families.
The experience we had in Delhi may leave an indelible mark on us if we do not have a change of altitude and character to create a new image that would make the international sporting world see us again as a hard working top rated sporting nation that we really are.This call is not limited to athletics alone but to all athletes in other fields, not forgetting great fields like weight lighting, taekwondo and boxing where we have history of achievements.
Remember Peter Konyegwachi and recently Chika Chukwumerijie, so we can do it, we do not need drug to do it, all we need is determination, skills and focus so to speak and the result will be positive.
We have got internationally exposed coaches and of recent the likes of Innocent Egbunike and Dr.Daniel Igali have joined the team. What more could we ask for again, its now left for our determined athletes to prove to the world that once more we can do it, the Okagberes, Omawunmis,Oghenes, and many other star studded athletes, Nigeria is waiting for you.
It is my strong believe that our notable athletes will shine and make us proud come summer 2012 in London and what they actually need is the support from Nigerians, AFN, Sports Ministry and sport lovers in diaspora.
Go there and enjoy the tournament and put your names on the sands of time and encourage one another while making sure that 2012 Olympics will give Nigeria a better name than 2008 Beijing and Delhi 2010.
