“Nobody cares about us”: Nigeria U-20 athletes run in Poland but on empty stomachs
“Nobody cares about us.”
It is startling and baffling at the same time but that is the impression of Nigeria’s relay team at the ongoing IAAF World U-20 Championships in Poland.
Raymond Ekevwo, Biola Soyeemi, Godwin Ashien and Emmanuel Arowolo, in these video clips, narrate what they had to go through to get to Poland for the championships.
They spoke shortly after losing out of the 4×100 metres event.
“Nigeria used to be great but now…we starved for three days…”
🎥"Nobody cares about us…we didn't eat for 3 days…not everybody can run with stress"
Travails of 🇳🇬 athletes Pt.1 pic.twitter.com/pg4CUJ3DDa— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 23, 2016
“They wouldn’t help us. They said they did us a favour by allowing us travel outside Nigeria.”
🎥"We even heard somebody said they did us a favour by bringing us here (Bydgoszcz)…"
Travails of 🇳🇬 athletes Pt.2 pic.twitter.com/6na0jXDKVF— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 23, 2016
“Coaches refuse to train us well. They complained they’ve not been paid.”
🎥"All we get from the Coaches was beef…we were training ourselves for this relay…"
Travails of 🇳🇬 athletes Pt.3 pic.twitter.com/XtgTq0BfP3— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 23, 2016
And the same treatment is meted out on other Team Nigeria athletes sent to the tournament, Ashien suggests in the video.
Good Alphonsus had a forgettable performance in Poland. She said it’s because of the stress of travel.
🎥🇳🇬 When u've travelled to Poland same duration that would be required to get to Australia, it's hard to run well. pic.twitter.com/EjngVcZpYK
— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 20, 2016
Aniekeme Alphonsus was part of the contingent that spent three days to get to Poland from Nigeria.
She didn’t even make it out of the first round.
Interestingly Iman Isa Jassim who won the heat Alphonsus contested in is also Nigerian but she flew Bahrain’s flag at the championship.
Tobi Amusan”It was easy for me” (She’s not based in Nigeria).
It's not been all doom & gloom for #teamNigeria. #TobiAmusan 🇳🇬 runs 100m Hurdles S/F this pm. She spoke to us 🎥:👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/yMo7QOU9Fn
— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 23, 2016
Amusan, the leader of the Nigerian team to Poland, has been doing well so far.
She won the Semi-Final 1 of Women’s Hurdles on Saturday.
And yes, you guessed right, she didn’t travel to the event from Nigeria because she is based in the United States.
She arrived Poland before the competition started.
From the Sports Minister
Nigeria’s Minister for Youths and Sports Development, Solomon Dalung, was forced to issue a statement, Saturday, after some foreign-based Nigerian athletes took to social media to raise funds to pay for their fare to the Olympics in Brazil.
The athletes said they had received a mail from the ministry asking them to pay their own way to the games.
Dalung, in this statement, claimed ignorance of such mail and asked the athletes and Nigerians to ignore it.
“As the overseers of sports in the country, it is our duty to take care of all our athletes,” he said in the statement.
But the Minister definitely has more explanation to do.
Despite travelling, the Nigerian female relay team was not registered for the event
Where are the Nigerians? 1st set of medals have been awarded, still no sign of team🇳🇬. R they jogging in from Abuja😂 pic.twitter.com/BhgMbhgRQt
— AthleticsAfrica (@athleticsafrica) July 19, 2016
In addition to the allegations of abandonment made by the relay team, it would be interesting to know why the Nigeria’s female relay runners were not even registered for the relay at all.
And who arrives at an international competition after it has started by the way?
Over to you Mr Minister for Youths and Sports Development, sir..
