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. “
Now let’s destroy the Science…
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. HoweverChina 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…
(Picture credit: insidethegames.biz)
