In Nigerian athletics, merit is an orphan

Sani Ndanusa, NOC President

·                   Don’t bank on these folks for medals

As the world gathers to compete in the Olympics in London, I sit in review from my vantage position and all I see in the Nigerian team, especially in athletics is fraud. Even in the choice of athletes for the global event, we did not present our best athletes.

Those who know claimed that the President of the Federation chose his ‘loyal’ athletes. A check on the list showed how true this can be. I checked Seun Adigun, the 100m hurdler. The Olympic A qualifier for this event is 12.96secs and the B standard is 13.15secs. Her best time this year is 13.38secs which she ran in Kumasi on the06/07/12. In Port Novo, she ran 14.03secs. Whereas, in 2011, she ran 13.20secs in Maputo. Ordinarily, she has no business in London except meeting the Olympic spirit and values of participation.

Assuming we have a responsible AFN, by the beginning of the year, they would have started to ask what factors is inhibiting this athlete’s downward performance graph instead of the graph line rising into the Olympic. This is the type of questions some of us ask and some ‘goons’ hate to be asked.

Let’s take a comparative analysis of 400m flat for Women as example. If the Olympics had been 2011, only Regina George and Endurance Abinuwa would have qualified by our national global rating:

Time	Athlete	Date and venue	Olympic qualifying
51.31	Regina George	Eugene 27/05/11	A
52.28	Endurance Abinuwa	Lubbock 22/04/11	B
52.35	Bukola Abogunloko	Calabar 24/06/11
52.59	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	Calabar 24/06/11
52.71	Chizoba Okodogbe	Tucson 14/05/11
52.74	Omolara Omotosho	Calabar 23/06/11
52.77	Margaret Etim	Calabar 24/06/11

This is the 2012 rating for the same event.

Time	Athlete	Date and venue	Olympic qualifying
51.11	Regina George	Port Novo 29/06/12	A
51.28	Omolara Omotosho	Calabar 21/06/12	A
51.57	Bukola Abogunloko	Atlanta 12/05/12	B
51.67	Margaret Etim	Warri 06/06/12/12	B
52.09	Florence Uwakwe	Warri 06/06/12/12	B
52.31	Endurance Abinuwa	Calabar 21/06/12	B
52.34	Josephine Ehigie	Nsukku 21/04/12	NQ due to time
52.38	Idara Otu	Port of Spain 22/04/12	NQ
52.49	Patience Okon	Nsukku 21/04/12	NQ
52.96	Muizat Ajoke Odumosu	St. Martin 09/05/12	NQ
52.97	Tosin Adeloye	Port Harcourt 19/05/12	NQ
52.98	Olouma Nwoke	Port Harcourt 19/05/12	NQ

In the 4x400m relay, we are presenting 4 x 400m Women

1.        Regina George

2.        Omolara Omotosho

3.        Bukola Abogunloko

4.         Endurance Abinuwa

5.         Idara Otu

6.         Margaret Etim

How did Endurance Abinuwa and Idara Out got into the squad ahead of Florence Uwakwe? Please see the table.

This is what the rule says: “A country is allowed a maximum of three athletes that reach the 'A' standard in an event who meet or exceed this mark in the 18-month period prior to the Olympics. The 'B' standard is slightly easier to reach, but only one additional athlete per nation may be entered who has met the 'B' standard without pushing on to the 'A' standard.”

Conclusion: Why should we do well in London? Why must we do well? Can we do well with such standards where merit is not the basis of representing the country?