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Team Nigeria Athletics will return to the country from Douala, venue of the just concluded 23rd African Senior Athletics Championships, on Friday, (tomorrow).
Team Nigeria won one more gold and silver medal on the final day to finish third behind South Africa and Kenya on the medal table.
At the end of the six days competition, Nigeria will be returning home with five gold, six silver and four bronze medals from Douala.
In 2022 African Senior Athletics Championships in Saint Pierre, Mauritius, Team Nigeria took five gold, three silver, and three bronze medals behind Kenya and South Africa.
A former African sprint champion, now a coach, Endurance Ojokolo, says Nigeria’s performance in Douala was commendable considering the ‘several’ setbacks the team encountered during the championships.
“By my calculation, we lost four gold medals due to setback we encountered in Cameroon,” Ojokolo, who is member of the Technical crew, told AFN Media.
“Tobi Amusan would have easily picked the gold in the 100m women’s hurdles, but she was sick on our arrival. Favour Ofili could have given us the gold in women’s 100m and even the 200m, but she pulled out after qualifying for the semifinal in the 100m,” the former sprint queen affectionately called the bulldozer lamented.
She went on to add that, “The men’s 4x100m gold could have come to Nigeria, if we had Favour Ashe. The 4x400m men’s relay was a sure gold for us, but something went wrong along the line. If we were able to capture three of those gold medals I just mentioned, South Africa would have finished far behind us in this competition because they benefited more from the setback we encountered.”
On the final day, the women’s 4x400m relay grabbed a gold in a time of 3:27.31 seconds ahead of Botswana and Zambia but it was not enough to qualify for them the Olympics in Paris.
Men Javelin thrower, Chinecherem Prosper Nnamdi, added a silver medal with a throw of 79.22m.
Meanwhile, U.S.-based AFN Performance Director, Victor Okorie, has heaped praises on the athletes, coaches and other officials for displaying the ‘true’ Nigerian spirit in Douala.
“Look at the large number of athletes from South Africa (53), Kenya (55) and Ethiopia (63). We only came to Douala with 34 athletes, host, Cameroon paraded 52 athIetes. Despite the low number, we could have won the championships so easily but for the setback we encountered here,” Okorie said.
He also had some pleasant words for the Sports Minister, Senator John Enoh and the President of the AthIetics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Chief Tonobok Okowa.
“I thank the Honorable Sports Minister for helping us out and also to our president, Chief Tonobok Okowa, for his complete backing of the team and the trip to the land of Paul Biya,” Okorie stated.
Team Nigeria secured most of its medals in the women events, the royal White and energitic Green ladies won a total of four gold, three silver and two bronze.
The Nigeria AthIetics amazons effectively, effortlessly and efficiently combined and executed a near perfect race along with their quick feet men to capture the 4×400m mix relay.
On their own the male contingent of Team Nigeria Athletics secured one gold, two silver and two bronze medal.
One of the athletes, who defended their titles in Douala, is Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, who won the men’s Shot Put event. He won the title at Asaba 2018 and retained it in Mauritius 2022.
Women’s Discuss thrower, Ashley Anumba, upgraded her status by winning gold this time around, after she settled for bronze two years ago in Mauritius.
One of Nigeria’s most consistent athletes, Ese Brume, lived up to her pre Championships hype as she retained her gold medal title in the Long Jump.
Nigeria’s Women 4x100m relay squad, led by Tobi Amusan easily secured the gold medal in Douala. Amusan could not defend her women’s 100m hurdles due to illness.
New national Record Holder in the women’s High Jump, Temitope Adeshina, lost the gold to her Ghanaian challenger, as she settle for silver medal.
The host nation, Cameroon, with a record entry of 52 athletes, finished in the 17th position on the final medal table with two silver and four bronze medals.
Though, some Nigerian athletes left Douala today for their respective destination, other members of Team Nigeria are expected to arrive in Lagos, tomorrow evening.