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 Daily Independent Online.
* Friday, August 13, 2004.
It
won’t hurt me if Nigeria
fails in Athens -Amu
By Uzor Odigbo
Correspondent, Lagos
Nigeria’s foremost
quarter-miler and the Athletic Federation of Nigeria (AFN) technical
director, Alhaji Abdulkarin Amu has declared that he would not be
disappointed if the nation fails to win medals in Athens.
Amu in a chat with Daily
Independent in Lagos yesterday, said there are procedures when countries
are preparing for the Olympic games, adding that no country prepares her
athletes three months to an Olympic games and hope to win anything. “This thing is a four year
programme not three of six months. So I won’t really be disappointed if
we did not win any medal in Athens because we didn’t start on time to
prepare”
Athletes he said, would have
prepared themselves ahead of time, but noted that Olympic preparation is
not what an athlete can handle without sponsorship from all sources.
The former AFN president who
left the country last night for Athens however expressed optimism in the
ability of the country’s female and male relay teams to feature in the
finals of their events. He hinged his optimism on the possibility that
top athletes from other countries might be disqualified on grounds of dope , pointing out that
anything was possible in the
sprints.
“Mary Onyali and Uchenna Emedolu were entered to run
the 200m events, but were only seconded to run the 100m in case anything
happens to athletes earlier entered in the event. Their health conditions
were also considered when the entry was made” In a no holds bared response on Nigeria’s
medal chances at the Athens Olympics, the Africa Athletic Confederation,
(AAC) director of communication and marketing Tieno Diack said Nigeria
may win medal in weightlifting. Buttressing his opinion, Diack said, “Olympic preparation is a
four-year programme. If you want to win, start on time especially in
athletics where athletes would require huge financial assistance to do
well. Nigeria has good sprinters in Deji Aliu, Uchenna Emedolu, Tamuno
and others but running well in one meet is not enough preparation for a
top athlete. Maybe if Nigeria prepares well next time, she will do well,
but not in Athens” Diack said.
He noted that when Senegalese
Amy Mbecki who won the 400m
women event at the 2001 world athletics championships in France, she got
a house, car, receives salaries from government and many endorsement from
companies. Unfortunately, he said the Senegalese government does not pay
attention to athletes’ welfare any more.
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