Former Chief Coach of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN),Chief Toni Urhobo has said no serious-minded person expected a medal from Nigeria at the recently-held 16th IAAF World Championships in London.
Urhobo, who spoke with TribuneSport by phone said the nation deserved zero medal at London 2017 given the prevailing circumstances.
“Well, I’m not disappointed that we didn’t win any medal in London, I expected it. If you continue to do same thing the same way, will you expect a different result?
“With my experience in the sports business, I have seen that we were not always well prepared for a major championship. For instance, I noticed that since the London 2012 Olympics, a lot of things are wrong with the management of Blessing Okagbare.
“Also, the survival syndrome of athletes in the third world countries has become an issue which is affecting Nigeria too. Our athletes largely depend on income from Diamond League, Grand Prix and so on to sustain themselves.
There is no financial lifeline for them to augment their expenses and as a result of lack of motivation, these athletes too always give little to their countries at the point of need. It is not their doing, but they must have burned themselves out in the course of attending personal meets for survival. It got to a point that when countries began to complaint, IAAF rather urged the affected countries to motivate their athletes too.
“After the Beijing 2008 Olympics, England started providing grants to the athletes who met certain standards in order to motivate the mind, the result has never been the same. You can have control over these athletes if you give them what they need to enhance their careers.
“I told some people during the championship that the best result Nigeria could get in the 4x400m women’s relay was fourth or fifth position. It was very logical, did any of our athletes make it to the final of the 400m. How then can we win the relay?
“Yes, we got to the semi-final of the women’s 4x100m relay but that was the event that in the past, we always get to the final. It was not so in London. The issue is this, you must first look at the standard of our opponents. Medal is not won without adequate planning including administrative input that would aid the athletes,” the former Technical Adviser of Benin Republic told Tribune sport.
Urhobo noted that a lot of wrongs are associated with Nigerian sports especially athletics, that would continue to nullify any investment by the authorities in the sector.
“My take is that only people with the right administrative capacity, knowledge, passion and love for sports should be elected or appointed to administer any sports federations in Nigeria, that is the only way to attain effective management.
“Unless drastic measures are taken to do the right things and in time too, I doubt we would be seeing any positive changes in the immediate future. He who keeps doing the same wrong things expecting positive results is worse than a fool.
“Miracles do happen, but God does not reward obstinate folly. Faith without works is dead. We should stop planting seeds of failure and expecting harvests of success,” said the Delta State-born sports
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