By Ben Efe

Athletics Federation of Nigeria officials are gearing up for the task of qualifying Nigerian teams for the relay events of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.

This is coming after Nigeria’s team to the World Indoor championships in Portland Oregon, fell short of expectations. It is only Nigeria women 4x400m quartet that has booked their place, while the men 4x400m, the women and men 4x100m squads are yet to find their spot.

“Our outing in Portland is a clarion call for us to work harder. It is only our women’s 4x400m that have qualified for the Olympics relay events. We are going to do everything possible to see that our athletes put up good performances individually ahead of the Rio 2016 Games,” Professor Ken Anugweje who is medical director of the federation.

But one of the athletes who was with the team in Portland, called on the federation and the sports ministry to find a way of motivating the athletes towards the task of posting a good preparation for the Olympics.

“How can we be training without being paid allowances? Even the last world indoor championships we attended we weren’t paid a dime, whereas the other athletes we competed with in Portland are well motivated.

“This is an Olympic year and we haven’t done much in preparations. So nobody should blame the athletes if they failed to win any medal at the Olympics,” said the athlete.