₦airaland Forum

AyodejiCharles: nice one Mr Ayobami! You have an amazing Athletics Blog I only want you guys to increase the frequency of updates especially during the world championship.
I was almost shedding tears when I read the post that documents on the Sad story of how we lost Francis Obikwelu to Portugal at
www.makingofchampions.net/2013/05/24/meeting-francis-obikwelu-in-portugal/

I think you guys should even start a Television Show on Athletics....( I may even love to join your crew )all we see on our Tv screens are Soccer Tv shows, I know for sure that you guys are gonna gain a lot of followership over time

By the way where is Seun Ogunkoya? I actually thought that guy was gonna become a world class beater but he suddenly went into oblivion!

Thanks for the kudos for the blog! I've slowly been ramping it up, but rest assured we will have a lot more news and material posted on the blog in the next couple of weeks for the World Championships! Yes, Obikwelu's story was quite sad for Nigeria - as a nation we must make sure that we do not lose our best athletes because of our own stupidity...let's hope that we know how to treat Blessing after she becomes a World Champion in the next week or two, because if we don't there could be a risk of losing her to the US at some point during her career - after all she has been training there for over 4 years now and on current form is better than all their girls, even including her training partner Carmelita Jeter...

A TV show on athletics is a concept I've been working on - after all from all our travels this year, we actually have enough footage to do a full season show in Nigeria/Africa, so watch this space! Hopefully after Blessing has done us proud, there will be appetite in Nigeria for an athletics show, so let's see how that goes...

I'm really not sure about Seun Ogunkoya and what happened to him, though I think he was running way back in the 90s no? The last world class sprinters Nigeria had on the men's side were the likes of Olusoji Fasuba, Deji Aliu Uchenna Emedolu and Aaron Egbele, who won 4x100m bronze for Nigeria at Athens 2004 - we need to get back to those times!

[quote author=ola_pluto]I will start by saying our male athletes have ZERO chance of getting any individual medals in Moscow. Male athletes have been failing over the years, they are aging and the new generation are not getting support from the government. The best for the future seems to be Divine Oduduru who can be great if he is bundled to America to get his training under a better coach.
There's a 'new face' in the team. Leoman Momoh has just started representing Nigeria. He is a middle distance (800m) runner from Arkansas. Young, powerful and one for the future if AFN treat him well. Egwero Ogho-Oghene in the 100m will do well to get past the heats. It will be a miracle for him to get to the semi-finals.
Noah Akwu has improved and he is more suited for the 400m. He can make the semis if he pushes hard. He's a great asset for the 4x400m team.
Tosin Oke can make the finals in the triple jump on his good day, this season he's not been near his best. Good luck to him making the finals.
The men's 4x400m is our best chance of a male medal. The team is younger than previous teams and we have runners in 45s and low 46s. If they get to the final, they have a chance of a medal.[/quote]I completely concur with your analysis - here is what I wrote on cybereagles yesterday about our medal chances:

"I expect 3 medals from Blessing - the exact colour, we just have to wait and see...I think beyond that, the 4x400m girls could get close to a medal (if they draft Odumosu into the final quartet) and Blessing could also help the 4x100m girls get a medal if they're lucky...outside that, maybe the 4x400m men but I highly doubt it...

I hope Noah doesn't burn himself out trying to combine the 200m & 400m - I would advise him to do only the 400m, then focus on helping the 4x400m team get a medal, because that is the closest any Nigerian man will get to a medal at this World Championships...hope he doesn't burn himself out on the 200m, because that would be a waste of his time at this point, if it could hurt his chances of getting a medal in the 4x400m..."

Team Nigeria!

In preparation for the World Champs starting in just over a week, check out this video celebrating Blessing Okagbare's feat of breaking the 100m African Record twice within 2 hours on Saturday! You'll see from the video that it's been a very long time coming - and the video also pays homage to former African Track & Field Queens, Glory Alozie (the former official holder of the record at 10.90) and Chioma Ajunwa (who ran a time of 10.84 back in Lagos in 1992 that was never ratified as the record for one reason or another...)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCH2vjROrp4

It's fair to say that Blessing is now the undisputed African 100m Record Holder - bring on the world!

For my analysis of her chances at the World Championships in Moscow, check out my blog here: http://makingofchampions.net/2013/08/01/blessings-triple-threat-for-the-world-championships/

Basically, Blessing can get 3 GOLDs (100m, 200m, and Long Jump) and a Bronze (in 4x100m)- that's why my heart wants for her and Nigeria, but Shelly-Ann Fraser, Allyson Felix and Brittany Reese will be the 3 girls the world will be tipping to win her events, so Blessing should at least get Silver in each on current form! I'll tip her to upset Alyson Felix in the 200m at the World Champs. One thing's for certain - she'll get Mary Onyali's African Record of 22.07 in 2 week's time for some colour of medal. She may also get Chioma Ajunwa's Long Jump African Record of 7.12m. You heard it here first!

rume: I'd be hugely surprised if she did all of these events. I mean she's human(okay, superhuman to a degree ). I know Allyson Felix's feat at the olympic games last year is similar, but...
100m and Long Jump, likely, 200m as well, unlikely, though she has been picked for all three by the AFN.

Nonetheless, we'll see in a few weeks, makes it all exciting

Actually, I think it is almost a certainty she will do all 3 - the 200m doesn't start till Thurs Aug 15th, whereas the Long Jump ends on the Sunday (Aug 11th) and the 100m ends on Monday (Aug 12th)...as such it would be illogical not to try the 200m, when she can realistically win a medal there too, once the other two events are over.

The real question is whether the Long Jump final the day before the 100m semis and final would affect her performance in the 100m? Will she be able to recover on time to put up her best performance in the 100m? Only time will tell...we'll know in about 10 days!

Team Nigeria!

In preparation for the World Champs starting in just over a week, check out this video celebrating Blessing Okagbare's feat of breaking the 100m African Record twice within 90 minutes on Saturday! You'll see from the video that it's been a very long time coming - and the video also pays homage to former African Track & Field Queens, Glory Alozie (the former official holder of the record at 10.90 until Saturday) and Chioma Ajunwa (who ran a time of 10.84 back in Lagos in 1992 that was never ratified as the record for one reason or another...)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCH2vjROrp4

It's fair to say that Blessing is now the undisputed African 100m Record Holder - bring on the world!

For my analysis of her chances at the World Championships in Moscow, check out my blog here: http://makingofchampions.net/2013/08/01/blessings-triple-threat-for-the-world-championships/

Basically, Blessing can get 3 GOLDs (100m, 200m, and Long Jump) and a Bronze (in 4x100m)- that's why my heart wants for her and Nigeria, but Shelly-Ann Fraser, Allyson Felix and Brittany Reese will be the 3 girls the world will be tipping to win her events, so Blessing should at least get Silver in each on current form! I'll tip her to upset Allyson Felix in the 200m at the World Champs. One thing's for certain - she'll get Mary Onyali's African Record of 22.07 in 2 week's time for some colour of medal. She may also get Chioma Ajunwa's Long Jump African Record of 7.12m. You heard it here first!

Team Nigeria!

In preparation for the World Champs starting in just over a week, check out this video celebrating Blessing Okagbare's feat of breaking the 100m African Record twice within 2 hours on Saturday! You'll see from the video that it's been a very long time coming - and the video also pays homage to former African Track & Field Queens, Glory Alozie (the former official holder of the record at 10.90) and Chioma Ajunwa (who ran a time of 10.84 back in Lagos in 1992 that was never ratified as the record for one reason or another...)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCH2vjROrp4

It's fair to say that Blessing is now the undisputed African 100m Record Holder - bring on the world!

For my analysis of her chances at the World Championships in Moscow, check out my blog here: http://makingofchampions.net/2013/08/01/blessings-triple-threat-for-the-world-championships/

Basically, Blessing can get 3 GOLDs (100m, 200m, and Long Jump) and a Bronze (in 4x100m)- that's why my heart wants for her and Nigeria, but Shelly-Ann Fraser, Allyson Felix and Brittany Reese will be the 3 girls the world will be tipping to win her events, so Blessing should at least get Silver in each on current form! I'll tip her to upset Alyson Felix in the 200m at the World Champs. One thing's for certain - she'll get Mary Onyali's African Record of 22.07 in 2 week's time for some colour of medal. She may also get Chioma Ajunwa's Long Jump African Record of 7.12m. You heard it here first!