AFN officials excited over athletes’ top performance in Ghana
24 March 2024 |
2:03 am
Officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) are in Cloud Nine, following the excellent performance of the athletes at the 13th African Games, which ended yesterday in Accra, Ghana.
Officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) are in Cloud Nine, following the excellent performance of the athletes at the 13th African Games, which ended yesterday in Accra, Ghana.
Team Nigeria finished second in the overall medals table behind Egypt, but the country was top on the athletics table with 21 medals made up of 11 gold, six silver and four bronze medals.
According to Sportsnow.com, the performance in Accra was AFN’s fourth best position in the history of the African Games. Tobi Amusan led the gold winners list after she successfully defended her 100m hurdles title to become the first high hurdler to win three straight gold medals in the history of the Games.
Ese Brume followed with another historic performance, becoming the second woman to successfully defend a long jump title after Modupe Oshikoya.
Chidi Okezie also produced another historic moment, winning Nigeria’s first 400m gold in 37 years. The last time a Nigerian quartermiler mounted the African Games podium as champion was in 1987, when Innocent Egbunike ran a 44.23 Games Record to win the gold.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi also carved a piece of history for himself as the first Nigerian to retain a Shot Put gold medal at the Games. Ruth Usoro hopped, stepped and jumped 13.80m to win the triple jump gold, her first in the Games.
Pamela Obiageri Amaechi also won her first African Games gold in the absence of defending champion, Chioma Onyekwere. Chinecherem Nnamdi added his name to the list of Nigerian history makers after ensuring the country’s return to the African Games podium as champion for the first time in 29 years. He did it in style by setting an 82.80m National Record.
The Nigerian women’s 4x400m relay team lived up to billing to win their 10th straight gold in the history of the Games, while the men extended their chase for Nigeria’s first gold medal win in the event by another four years, 21 years after the team was last crowned African Games champion.
Nigeria achieved her best ever performance in 1995 when the team, led by Mary Onyali, won a record 15 gold medals. Onyali and company ended the Games with a total of 32 medals made up of 15 gold, nine silver and eight bronze medals.
That achievement beat the feat Nigeria achieved in 1987 in Nairobi Kenya, where the team, led by Innocent
Egbunike, won 14 gold, seven silver and six bronze medals. Nigeria’s athletics team won 13 gold medals in 1991, 1999 and 2003.
The victory in Accra means the team tops the medal table for the 11th time in 13 appearances. The team topped in 1965, 1978, 1987, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and now 2024.
The country was stripped of the gold medal won by Oyesade Olatoye in the Shot Put in 2019 owing to eligibility issue, which ensured Nigeria dropped to second on the medal table behind Kenya in 2019.
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