On the August 5, 10,500 athletes from 206 countries will march into the Maracanã stadium in Rio for the opening ceremony of the biggest sporting event on the planet, the Olympics. Among the hopefuls looking to take home one of the 306 gold medals is Nigerian freestyle wrestler, Odunayo Adekuoroye. The 22-year–old woman managed to clinch one of the available slots at this year’s competition by winning bronze in the 53kg weight category at the World Championships in Las Vegas, United States. Weeks away from the big day and there is uncertainty in the air about Nigeria’s Olympic prospects.
“We always have issues with funding especially in the first quarter of the year. The minister of sports has been in touch with the federation and they have already released funds and the athletes are in very good spirits. We are hoping issues of tickets, and athletes not being able to arrive at the event this time, will not arise,” says Daniel Igali, President of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation.
Igali is also the chairman of the technical commission of the Nigeria Olympic Committee and a former Olympic gold medalist for Canada. He is the coach of Adekuoroye and is optimistic about her prospects in Rio.
“Last year, in all able-bodied sports, my wrestler was the only athlete in the Nigerian team that won a bronze medal in the qualifiers so we have very high hopes that she will medal at the Olympics this year and, if she does, that will be the first time any Nigerian will be winning a medal at the Olympics in wrestling.”
Nigeria failed to win a medal at the 2012 London Olympics. Igali is determined to change this record in future competitions, however, he needs to overcome several hurdles first.
“Our outreach programs at the youth level have been non-existent and so it has been a big challenge trying to get some of the younger athletes to take over from the older ones at the national level. We need to have wrestling programs in most schools, from primary and secondary levels and also at the university and tertiary level. The national university competition in Nigeria still does not have wrestling,” says Igali.
To further exacerbate the situation, athletes in the sports do not get the chance to sufficiently compete during the year to prepare them for big events like the Olympics.
“At the younger level, an athlete in a competent sport needs to compete at least every month and at the elite level at least once every three months. Last year we only had our elite athletes competing twice in the whole year,” says Igali.
Adekuoroye, who won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, shares his sentiments.
“Most of my opponents have competed about four times this year and I have just competed once and I don’t know what to do, but that is Nigeria for you.”
Adekuoroye fell into the sport by accident.
“I was into athletics before but I was cheated out of my position so I started crying. My coach at the time saw me and asked me if I wanted to travel with the team and take part in wrestling instead. So, just because I wanted to travel, I followed him and when I got there I won gold and that is how I started wrestling,” she says.
Adekuoroye switched from a 400-meter athlete to a wrestler. She could not compete in London 2012 because her weight was just below the required 53kg. This year, she is determined to prove she has what it takes to win a medal.
“I am not scared about Rio, I believe I am not representing Nigeria alone but also Christians all over the world and so I believe with prayer and training my God will not let me down. I have good coaches as well and I don’t want to let them down,” says Adekuoroye.
Wrestling has given a new lease of life to the young athlete.
“All I have is wrestling. I was not born with a silver spoon but because of wrestling, I have something to eat and even give others. I am the provider for my family and as a result I will continue to put everything into the sport to make sure I continue to succeed.”
It is estimated that it takes about 10 years of proper grooming for an athlete to achieve Olympic gold. One does not only need talent and hard work, but also the right support system in place, from physiotherapy to a chiropractor as well as experienced coaches. In the absence of these essential ingredients, the Nigerian patriotic zeal and dogged determination has brought Adekuoroye this far. Could she have enough to change the fortunes of the nation in Rio 2016. Nigeria hopes so.

Grappling For Gold

When Wayde van Niekerk returned from winning a 400-meter gold medal at the World Championships in Beijing last year, only his mother Odessa was at the airport to welcome him home.
Despite this monumental achievement, he was little known outside of athletics circles. Twelve months on, he is a star on a meteoric rise and will head to the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in August among South Africa’s leading medal hopefuls.
Van Niekerk already holds a special piece of history as the only person to run under 10 seconds in the 100 meters, sub-20 in the 200 meters and below 44 in the 400 meters, but will focus on just one of those in Rio.
“I’m only looking to compete in the 400-meters, in the future I will look at other events. I want to get myself a solid medal and then take it from there,” Van Niekerk tells FORBES AFRICA.
Despite his impressive times, in reality his chances of medals in the other events would be very slim and he would stand next to no chance of gold competing against the world’s fastest man, Usain Bolt, in the two shorter distances.
<div id="attachment_4972" style="width: 310px" class="wp-caption alignleft"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-4972" class="size-medium wp-image-4972" src="/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/GettyImages-485252836-300x219.jpg" alt="" width="300" height="219" />BEIJING, CHINA &#8211; AUGUST 26: Wayde Van Niekerk of South Africa crosses the finish line to win gold in the Men&#8217;s 400 metres final during day five of the 15th IAAF World Athletics Championships Beijing 2015 at Beijing National Stadium on August 26, 2015 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)</div>
Van Niekerk has already cleared a number of hurdles in his life, including a premature birth that left him fighting for his life, and he believes he can improve those times in the future.
“I believe I still have a lot more in the tank, I’ve just started racing against the best in the world,” he says. “But records are not my goals, I want to win for South Africa.”
“I am excited to show the world that South Africa belongs to be there among the world’s greatest sporting countries.”
Sitting with Van Niekerk, he cuts a determined and focused figure, confident but also humble.
He is, in a way, living the life his mother, now remarried after the deterioration of her relationship with his father, never had due to apartheid. Like her son, she was a talented sprinter competing under the banner of the non-racial South African Council on Sport (SACOS).
Whether she could have made an impact on the international stage is conjecture, but she was denied the chance to try. Van Niekerk says that knowledge drives him to succeed, hinting too that his career has healed a rift between his parents.
“What gives me an extra push is my family, the people who have played a role in getting me to where I am today. Running in my family’s name and representing them is very important to me. More recently having the whole country behind me has been great too.”
“My mom and my dad are super supportive. I appreciate the opportunity we have as a family and I’m grateful that it has brought a sense of togetherness to my family.”
“It’s got my family back together and supporting me, we are not thinking about the past but only the future. This is our moment and I am trying to make each and every one of them proud.”
Tears well in his eyes as he relays the story of his birth, at just 900 grams, and the immediate aftermath that was torture for Odessa.
“Every day she woke up, she wasn’t sure I would be alive. It makes me emotional that my mother had to go through that.”
It’s the reason Van Niekerk donated around $30,000 of his prizemoney from winning the Sportsman of the Year at the 2015 South African Sports Awards last November to the Groote Schuur Hospital’s neonatal unit, where he spent time in an incubator in 1992.
“My contribution is me trying to help others,” he says.
Life may have started out tough for Van Niekerk, but things turned when he attended famed sports school Grey College in Bloemfontein.
“Grey College created the environment for me to succeed. I had to push myself but the school aspires to sporting excellence and I am grateful for the opportunity to have gone there.”
He emerged as a potential 400-meter champion in 2013 when he broke the South African record, and then took silver at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow a year later. It was not until his gold in Beijing that the world really started to take notice though.
“I’m very confident and comfortable in the position I’m in. I’m excited to see what lies ahead of me,” he says. “I cherish every single medal I have. I’ve got this opportunity to go out there and live out my dreams and achieve as much as I can by doing what I love.”
“When it comes to the Olympics it’s another opportunity for me to tick off another title in my career.”
Van Niekerk, who has the fourth fastest time ever in the 400-meters of 43.48, will compete in Rio against LaShawn Merritt of the United States and Kirani James of Grenada.
James has run the quickest time this year of 44.08, but Van Niekerk is just 0.03 off that time in 2016.
“I doubt any of the top three guys are going to Rio not to win the gold medal, that is certainly my vision and goal for the Olympics,” he says. “I am not thinking about any other medal at the moment, but obviously I need to go there healthy and put in my best performance.”
His chances were boosted by the opportunity to train with Bolt and fellow sprinter, Yohan Blake, in Jamaica in June.
“I feel I can learn a lot from them and can improve myself as an athlete,” he says.
Van Niekerk has also welcomed the decision of the International Olympic Committee to re-test drug samples from previous Olympics to root out those who have used banned substances.
“It’s good to know they are going out there and digging out the guys who have been cheating. It’s not a nice feeling knowing you are giving your all out there and somebody else is cheating.”
The Cape Town-born speedster admits he remembers very little of his races, but whatever happens in Rio, he can have no regrets.
“The race itself is a blank experience, I only remember the end. All stresses disappear right there. It’s about me giving my everything and leaving it all there on the track.”

Fast, Furious and lucky to be alive

You wouldn’t blink if you saw Anaso Jobodwana on the street. Like many young men, he is well dressed and walks hand-in-hand with his girlfriend, 26-year-old American semi-professional athlete Taylor Monae Evans, and looks slight and hungry.
Make no mistake, this 23-year-old has the world at his fast feet. He smashed the South African 200-meter record, with a time of 19.87 seconds, at the World Championships in Beijing in August. In 2016, he is heading for the Olympics in Rio where he will strain every sinew, yet again, against Usain Bolt.
In Beijing, the great man came to him like a Bolt from the blue as the two limbered up.
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“In the final he said ‘Are you ready to run this 19 seconds?’, and I just said ‘yeah’. And he said ‘don’t be nervous, you’ve got this,’” says Jobodwana.
“Afterwards he came to me and said ‘I had to talk to you throughout the whole call-room because you were nervous so I had to calm your nerves down. Out of all the finalists you were the one, throughout the rounds, who looked the most ready and relaxed and I don’t understand why you were nervous in the final.’”
Jobodwana was starstruck because Bolt was the guy on the cover of his training file, inside were pictures of him in his stride.
Bolt’s 19 seconds prediction was spot on because in the final, Jobodwana ran close.
“After the finals he came up to me and screamed ‘National record, I’m proud of you!’, but obviously with a deeper voice,” chuckles the soft spoken Jobodwana.
The glare and glamour of the track was a million miles from where Jobodwana grew up in Phakamisa, a township on the outskirts of King William’s Town in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. It was here that Jobodwana developed his passion for running and breaking records. He would only start training professionally, though, in Grade 10 – at the age of 16.
“I hold the under-9 record at Dale Junior so I guess that kicked-started my passion for sprinting,” he says.
In King William’s Town, his mother is a teacher; his father a retired prison officer. Jobodwana says he was fortunate enough to have parents that sent him to schools that nurtured his talent.
“Growing up, the kids in my neighborhood were way faster than me and better sportsmen. I was lucky enough to get sent to schools that had proper sporting facilities and coaches that would enhance my talent,” says Jobodwana.
It was at school that Jobodwana would make his mark, claiming the number one spot in the country in the 200 meters. In the same year, he was 5th in the world in the junior section, after his first full season of training.
Seven years later, the United States-based sprinter shares the track with the likes of Justin Gatlin and Bolt.
Jobodwana says he moved to the States because he wanted to be part of the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA).
Jackson State University took a gamble on the sprinter in 2011, offering him a scholarship despite the fact he was recovering from a serious injury. He repaid their faith by qualifying for the 2012 Olympics. Jobodwana says it was thanks to his meticulous coaches.
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“South African coaches are good as well. Look at other athletes who are thriving, like Wayde van Niekerk. He gets coached in South Africa, so the coaches here are awesome,” he says.
Jobodwana was not so blessed when it came to financial support. He hasn’t received any recently from Athletics South Africa. Jobodwana recalls receiving financial assistance in 2012 when he needed to qualify for the Olympics, but nothing since then.
“They (Athletics South Africa) are in a bit of shambles at the moment. I’ve been receiving support from endorsements, Nike Africa has been supportive, but I haven’t received anything from Athletics South Africa recently. Maybe they’ll eventually get it right,” says Jobodwana.
Athletics South Africa was not available for comment.
In the run up to Rio, Jobodwana might spring a few surprises – he plans to run the 100 meters more often to increase his speed.
Award-winning Times Media Group sports journalist, David Isaacson, reckons we can expect a medal from Jobodwana in August.
“I’m sure he can bring back a silver medal in Rio,” says Isaacson.
The athlete has his own ideas about what is needed to groom future South African athletes. Jobodwana says the government needs to put more emphasis on scouting and nurturing athletes in rural areas.
Jobodwana says he spoke to Bolt’s coach in Beijing. He suggested the coach come to Africa for three months to mentor young athletes here. Jobodwana says the coach looked keen.
“We all need to figure out how to put proper structures in place that will bring out the best in the future of our athletics,” says Jobodwana.
And the Jobodwanas of tomorrow? The young athlete left them with a stern message.
“Follow your dreams to the fullest. Your dreams have to be crazy enough for people to think they aren’t achievable, that will be the extra drive you need to make them come alive,” he says.
At Rio 2016, Africa will, once again, be looking to its fastest man and his fleet feet.

Tag: World Championships

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA

Grappling For Gold

Fast, Furious and lucky to be alive

A Bolt From The Bush