For 12 years, Charlton Ehizuelen competed for Nigeria at major tournaments, and dominated the long and triple jumps events as one of the best in the world. Ehizuelen was at his peak when Nigeria’s contingent left for the 1976 Montreal Olympic Games in Canada was pulled out of the event following the unresolved diplomatic row over New Zealand’s rugby team tour of the then apartheid in South Africa. It led to a total Africa boycott of the games which eventually forced Ehizuelen and others to return home. On the margins of the unveiling the Diplomacy Wall of Fame for the 1976 Montreal Olympics contingent and the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning Green Eagles, Ehizuelen went down memory lane in an encounter with TAOFEEK BABALOLA.
Charlton Ehizuelen is a Nigerian former track and field athlete who competed in the long jump and triple jump and his personal bests of 8.26m and 16.82 m for the events stood him out in the world.
“I competed for this country for 12 years. I was the record holder for African and Commonwealth which I held for a decade. I was one of the best jumpers in the world in 1975. I was the first African to ever long jump open 27m and 15 feet for indoors and outdoors events,” recalled the now 69-year-old Ehizuelen who made it to the cover of the Track & Field magazine in his heyday. “In those days, we had encouragement and there were people who were interested in sports. It wasn’t about what you can get. It was about what you can give. To get something, you give something first.”
Yet Ehizuelen is nostalgic about those heady days as he lamented over the poor state of sports especially athletics in the current dispensation.
He continued: “ You know, we were doing the reverse now. We have taken the horse before the cart. We have a country of many young people in Nigeria and one of the largest populations in the world. This country is highly blessed and highly talented.
“There are a lot of talents everywhere and I know that because I came out of here. If we don’t encourage those who have already done it. If we don’t showcase them as our shining light, we are going to have a dim light as we continue to build a nation, because in order to have a shining light, you need to leave the light shining so everyone will see it and want to reach for that shining light.
“But a dim light will discourage you and that’s what has been happening now. Young men and young women in Nigeria don’t want to participate in sports because they have seen what has already happened to the ones who did it before.
“I wouldn’t participate because if I see those who did well for Nigeria are walking on the streets with no purpose. It is right we honour our heroes’ past as stated in our national anthem.
“Our heroes’ past efforts shall not be in vain and why do we have it in our anthem and we don’t honour it,” he noted.
According to Ehizuelen, the boycotted Montreal 1976 Olympic Games due to the then apartheid regime in South Africa , would have been a breakthrough to many of the athletes on the Nigerian contingent and he reminisced about the thought of what would have been.
“It was a very bitter pill to swallow because we didn’t withdraw from the Olympic Game for a week but we withdrew from the Olympic Games hours to kick off,” a still crest-fallen Ehizuelen further said. “We left Montreal about midnight that day and the Olympic Games was to begin in the morning. We were there for 10 days and after the government decision, they pulled us out and they dumped us in Lagos. “We wanted to travel to China but we didn’t go and they dumped us in Lagos. Now, if you have taken something from somebody, you should have a replacement but they didn’t do that. We suffered for 47 years as we were young. The oldest person then was about 23 as we were 18, 19, 20 and 21 years old then. We were at the prime of our career.
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“Unfortunately, we did not attend any Olympic Games after the withdrawal from Montreal 1976 and that would have been our best outing at the Olympic Games. But I qualified for another Olympic Games in 1980 but I got injured because the proper timing for us then was the 1976 edition,” he said.
Back to the moment and with just few days to the 2023 World Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Ehizuelen rued the provisional suspension placed on world record holder Tobi Amusan for missing three out of competition tests (OCT)
He said: “From what I heard, she missed three appointments. I don’t know why she did that because she is already on the top of her game whether she had some bad advice or couldn’t get there. Something must have happened. I don’t know why but whatever be the case, I am hoping it would be resolved with a slap on the wrist because she is at her peak right now.
“There’s another girl Ese Brume who is going to be there too in the long jump. I saw her in Houston by few months ago when she was jumping and I was there to support her and that’s what we should be doing now to encourage the athletes.
“ Let me say this, the most important part of sports development is not the athletes that are competing right now, it’s those who have already done it. Those who have already done it have experience, knowledge and they know what to say to the ones who they are doing it to inspire them.
“That’s what Jamaica is doing. The athletes you see coming out from Jamaica are inspired by the ones who have already done it. So there’s a continuity going on there and that’s what we need to do here. We need to respect our past heroes. Nigeria is ninth in the world in population with over 200 million which is one of the largest populations in the world and this is an asset. We don’t want to be a curse because young people have to be engaged and sports can create a lot of engagement for young people in this country. We have to understand that if we don’t do it, even those who are stable in this country, we run for cover because we want to have a country that is for all of us not just for some. I still strongly believe that sports can help us do that,” he said.
On Brume’s chance in Budapest, he said: “If she (Germany girl) is not jumping then there’s a chance for her to win the gold. Even if she’s jumping, there could be a chance for Brume to win the gold because she has been among the top three in the world. Anytime you are among the top three in any event, you can win any event.
On the honour bestowed on them by Dr Allen Onyema via the Diplomacy Wall of Fame for the 1976 Montreal Olympics contingent and the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations-winning Green Eagles, he described it as timely and inspiring.
“What Dr. Allen Onyema, Prof. Eghosa Osaghae and my friend Segun Odegbami are doing right here and with what they were able to put together, is historic,” he stressed. “This is very important to this country. Let’s call it a brand new page. Forget the past, that’s what we are ending here now.
“ We carried this sore in our mind for 47 years. It’s very painful, so at the end, we are going to try to erase it from our minds and see what our contribution would make in sports development in this country.”
The Edo State-born who resides in the United States said he has a passion for supporting athletes.
“I live in the US. I have done so many things with athletes over the years by giving several sponsorships to people to go out school back and forth.
“You know, I work with athletes. I encouraged them and I have a project right now, an optimal project, which I’m going to introduce here. I’m introducing myself right now. It’s about development and encouragement. Getting athletes that have talents; I can work with. Have them go to school in the US for now. So, I’m about to do it here, develop it here until a solid platform is set then we are going to do it from there.
“Like we did in our time, when we were competing, most of us came from the US to represent Nigeria because the situation wasn’t that conducive at that time.
“ But we had support. Today, they have all the tools but they don’t have the support. We had all the support then but didn’t have the tools. So that’s the difference,” he added.