The African 100m record holder is Nigeria, Olusoji Fasubu,
however the Asian (Femi Ogunode) and European Record holders (Francis Obikwelu)
are also Nigeria….impressive huh?
In 1986, Chidi Imo ran the fastest time on earth for the
100m, even Carl Lewis could not match his time. Forbes wrote in 2012 that “Over the last seven
Olympic men’s 100-meter races, all 56 finalists have been of West African
descent”
So why is it that in 2015, there was no Nigerian
male 100 sprinter on the starting block at the IAAF World Athletics meet in
China ?
The fastest humans are Jamaicans. Of the top four fastest
humans in history, three are Jamaicans…Since 2008 only Jamaicans have won Olympic
gold medals in men and women Olympics…But wait, remember that African record
holder in the 100m? Fasuba of Nigeria? His mother is Jamaican…How is this even
possible that a tiny island can produce this number of fast people? Well it has
to do with genes….
First the science
Bengt Saltin, the world’s premier expert in
human performance and race, has concluded that an athlete’s “environment”
accounts for no more than 20-25 percent of athletic ability. The rest comes
down to the roll of the genetic dice—with each population group having distinct
advantages. In other words, running success is “in the genes.”
There is a gene for running, it’s called the Angiotensin-Converting
Enzyme, or ACE, gene if you have it are likely to have a larger than
average heart capable of pumping highly oxygenated blood to muscles quicker
than the average human. That also gives your body a better response to
training. In people of West African origin, the frequency of the variant is
slightly higher than in those of European and Japanese origin. In Jamaica, it’s
a little higher than in West Africa. Keep in mind blacks in Jamaica are descendants
of slaves that survived the horrible journey from Africa.
Micheal Brooks in his article, “why Jamaicans
are good in sprinting said, “There is a protein
called alpha-actinin-3, which helps
muscles generate strong, repetitive contraction. it comes in different types.
The desirable variant for a sprinter is known as 577RR. While only 70% of US
international-standard athletes have the desirable variant, 75% of Jamaicans
have it whether they are athletes or not. “
Frankie Fredricks of Namibia is not Jamaican or
West African, he is a two time Olympic Silver medalist .
When Chidi Imo ran the world’s fastest time in 1986, where were
the Jamaicans? In fact, in 1983, Nigeria participated
in the World University Games held at Edmonton, Canada, Nigeria sent only 10
athletes and won 5 gold medals, where was Jamaica?
So it’s not just genes…..
So what
Happened to Nigeria?
What happened to our athletics program? It failed,
why? Simple, No athletics
development program in schools, No sponsors,
No facilities, no support for athletics.
On athletics development
program: Let’s explore how
Chidi Imoh developed, I list out his progression from Annual interhouse games
to District Championship to National Championship representing Imo State to
National Sports Festival to Mobil Athletics Championship to World University
Games Canada to African Champion 1984 to IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics to
Olympic Games 1992.
What you see is a clear progression from school
to district to national to university to world circuit, can any current
Nigerian athlete boost is such a clear path today? Without the school inter-house
sport events and district championship, Nigeria would not have heard of Chidi
Imoh. Chidi Imoh himself
blames Nigeria’s deficiency in producing young
budding talents on ‘no investment’ in school sports. ….So how many Nigerian school
have tracks or do annual sports events?
On facilities: no need for long talk, just go to
National Stadium in our largest city, Lagos
On sponsors: The Nigerian
National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) /Mobil Producing Nigeria (MPN) joint
venture confirmed in 2011 that it will no longer be the title sponsor of the
Nigerian Track and Field Athletics Championship. That event is foremost event
for selecting Nigeria’s representatives to major international athletics
championships. Chidi Imoh ran in that event.
Ok so what can we do?
Who can we copy?
Jamaica
Jamaica has kept their youth program alive. The most important athletics event in
Jamaica is the VMBS Boys and Girls Athletics Championships also known simply as
Champs. This event started in 1910. This event has crowds of 25,000 people for
a secondary school event! That’s more than the crowd that watches Enyimba v
Kano Pillers…
The secondary school that dominates Champs is
called Calabar High School, it’s an athletics powerhouse ( yes, its named after
Calaber Nigeria). When Jamaica won its first 400m relay at the 1952 Olympics–
three of the quartet were Calabar alumni. The school has a sponsorship deal
with Puma, the German sportswear company that sponsors Bolt….a secondary school
with a sponsorship deal! Do we have any?
Over 200 Jamaican athletes train in America. There are
currently 21 Jamaican coaches in American universities but Stephen Francis a
Jamaican coach created the MVP club in 2001 based in University of Technology
Kingston Jamaica. He has trained Brigitte Foster Hylton who became commonwealth
champion. He train Asafa Powel in Jamaica! His other clients include Shelly Ann
Fraser 100m Olympic Champion…do we have any top Nigerian coach based in Nigeria
training local talent to international champions?
The Jamaican Amateur Athletic Association (JAAA) built the
High Performance Training Centre in a University in Jamaica, to try to get
athletes to stay in Jamaica. Triple Olympic champion Usain Bolt, trains there.
This is more than genes, this is planned investment in
coaches, athletic, and facilities.
British and Canadian
examples
British athletics as
an example, their athletes get paid according to their performance levels.
British athletes, are ranked in different categories and are paid accordingly
to help offset training and living expenses.
it is sad that Africa’s fastest man Olusoji Fasuba had to
join the UK Royal Navy to support himself. Could Nigeria not appoint this man
as ambassador at large and pay him a salary?
Can we imagine the amount of positive free
advertising Jamaica gets when their athletics carry their flags after winning?
Fasubu could do that for us, at a fraction of that CNN advert we paid for…
China, this is the
example we should pay close attention to…
In China, sports is more than sports, Chinese athletes are paid a government salary.
There are also
government-funded academies devoted to training the next generation of Chinese
athletes” Most were scouted at the tender age of six and sent to special sports
schools along with thousands of others who showed promise. Shichahai Sports School is one of such academies. Six days
a week, they study in the mornings and train for four hours in the afternoon.
The results show for themselves. China had never managed to get a sprinter into
a 100m or 200m final across the past 14 editions of the IAAF World
Championships with a 1billion plus population. However China has been methodical, in the 20th
Asian Championships in Pune, India, China took both 100m men and women titles. Also in Inchon, China’s men’s 4x100m
team broke the Asian record.
China also sent 6
coaches to Jamaica to study how Jamaica produces sprinters.
In the last World Athletics meet in China,
100m finals, there were 9 men on the tracks, all 8 of them men were Negros, all
with African roots….then one man from China named Bingtian Su…..No Nigerian.
It’s not coincidence,
it’s not just genes…….
China, sat down, and
planned their way there, Bingtian Su came last in that 100m race, but the
Chinese 4x100m relay team came 3rd….a Chinese Team third. Don’t ask
me what position Nigeria came…
There is no one reading
this that would have believed that a Chinese sprinter would be in the starting
block of the IAAF 100m final.no one. China got there because they looked at a
problem and devised a solution, even as science said it was impossible. Can
anyone here bet a Chinese sprinter will not win the 100m gold in 10 years? Before
you answer note that a Chinese man, Liu Xiang was the Olympic and World Record
meters holder in the 110m hurdles in 2004 and 2007 respectively.
It all about planning
I am writing this
article about sports and sprinting but the real message is about planning and
goal setting, effectively how a nation can overcome anything even biology, once
she sets the nations mind to do it.
There is nothing a
nation cannot do if they are unified in doing it. America put a man on the
moon, China put a man on the 100m final race…both were once considered
impossible, both involved a national desire, back by a national plan, with absolutely
everyone keyed into the goal, the result was success..
There has been no
issue or event that has unified Nigeria…. none, that’s our problem. If it was
possible to take the raw emotions that Nigeria had when we beat Brazil at the Olympic
Games in Atlanta, bottle it and deploy it to any national goal, then Nigeria
can do anything…absolutely anything.
This is where our
leaders have failed, no one has united us…..
It’s our problem, we
can fix it…
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