By Philips Adefioye
Nigeria’s first Olympic track and field gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa-Opara said that the only way to revive athletics in Nigeria is to go back to the school sports.

Ajunwa-Opara said in an interview with Sports Vanguard in Lagos that going back to the old system of catching them young from schools sports is the only solution, if Nigeria wants to reenact the glory days of athletics.

“Right now we just have two or three athletes who are doing well at the international level. This is not good enough for a country of Nigeria’s size and population, there are dozen and dozens of athletics talents. But it is always surprising we are no longer there at the world level,” Ajunwa said.

She blamed the dwindling fortunes of Nigerian athletics on the fact that, there has been no planing by those in authority for the future. She argued that it was the school sports system that threw up athletes like herself and others who held sway for the country during her time. She stressed that it was the same system that countries like the United States, Jamaica and the Bahamas rely on to produce athletes year in, year out.

“I must tell you that our recent failures is a direct consequence of not developing fresh talents. If we fail to bring up new talents, we will continue to rely on ageing athletes. “ If we have to revive athletics in Nigeria, we need to start now and breed athletes that in the next two year can make impact at the international circuit.

Ajunwa who holds the 7.12m African record in the women long jump advised the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, to look forward to the 2012 London Olympic Games. She called on the National Sports Commission, NSC, to make Funds available for athletes training, otherwise Nigeria will not achieve results at the 2012 Olympics.