Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President Tonobock Okowa said the future is very bright for track and field following the unprecedented feats achieved by the country’s youngsters  at the  recently concluded World Athletics U20 Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. Nigeria won four gold and three bronze medals to finish third on the medal table and Okowa has congratulated the team.

“The athletes and their coaches have done us very proud; they have achieved our best ever performance in the history of the U-20  Championships,” said Okowa. ”This is a new beginning for athletics in Nigeria,  we are confident these new set of athletes will be there in Paris in three years’  time to help us also achieve our best performance at the Olympics.’

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Okowa believes the unprecedented feats signify that track and field in Nigeria is on the rise again after some 13 years of more misses than hits, adding our inability to win a single medal at both the London (2012) and Rio de Janeiro (2016) Olympics was because we neglected youth development.

“Our chances of winning medals at the Olympics reduced because we failed to develop the youths who would have grown to make podium appearances like their predecessors did especially in the 1990s and early 2000s,’ he noted.

‘From Falilat Ogunkoya, Mary Onyali to Chioma Ajunwa, Blessing Okagbare, Glory Alozie and Ese Brume, they all rose to Olympic medallists after making their marks at the World U20 Championships. The challenge before us at the AFN is to turn some of the athletes here to potential Olympic medallists by the time we get to Paris, France in 2024.”