Don’t blame our juniors for world youth fiasco - Emedolu, Amike

Former Nigerian internationals Henry Amike and Uchenna Emedolu took a retrospective look at the performances of the Nigerian team at the last IAAF World Youth Championships in Ukraine and declared that the outing is a reminder that much work needed to be done, if athletics were to prosper again in Nigeria.

[caption id="attachment_373978" align="alignnone" width="412"] DIVINE GOLD – Oduduru Divine of Nigeria celebrating after winning the 200m boys final in a time of 21.56sec. Photo: Henry Unini[/caption]

The Nigerian juniors raised expectations after they won most of the gold medals at the maiden Africa Youth Championships in Warri, Delta State. But the athletes, including Divine Oduduru, failed to re-enact their form in Ukraine despite being camped for over a month in Port Harcourt in readiness for the meet, where the likes of Helen Opanachi shone during her hey days.

“I don’t know what happenned  to the athletes. They were in camp for a month or so to prepare, we expected a medal at least in the relays. But I don’t want to point accusing fingers at the coaches, the athletes or the AFN. We have fundamental problems we must take care of, if we have to do well in the  sport,” said Amike who holds the national 400m hurdles record, a 48.50 seconds he set in 1987.

Sprinter and 2004 Olympics bronze medalist, Emedolu submitted that two months of preparations couldn’t have put the athletes in a competitive mood in Ukraine.

“There’s isn’t much the coaches can do in two months. There is a whole lot of things involved.

“We have to do what other countries are doing if we want results. These athletes must have started their build up since October last year, but that was not the case because there were no funds to sustain their training.

“On their own, these kids cannot afford good diet, they cannot get good conditioning. These things cost money. We really need to help our athletes, their welfare is nothing to write home about. Public and private concerns and individuals who have the means should help the sport. We have athletes here, but if we cannot give them the right training then we will continue to get results like this.”