Former international athlete Gabriel Okon has rapped Cross River State athletics grassroots development consultant, Bruce Ijiriho over his comments last week lambasting the mismanagement of the junior athletics champions.
From left Rukayat Aweda, Isoken Wisdo winer of the 100m and with Busola Adewale at the Pastor Olukoya Under-18 Championships
“What has Ijirigho done to uplift Nigerian athletics? As a former athlete who reached the top, I expected that he should be in the fore front of proffering solutions to problems facing athletics rather than sitting there and throwing stones.
“He is there in Cross Rivers State collecting salary, when in fact he should be talking to the AFN people, give them advise and counsel them to do things right. The postponement of the championships was something that came from the blues, it was unexpected and it could have happened to any organization.
“His athletes were not at the Championships, whereas we had other states that are serious about developing their athletes present. Now tell me how would Ijirigho justify his work with Cross Rivers State government,” Okon stated.
Osayomi knows dope fate next week
Athletics Federation of Nigeria revealed that it has written to the world governing body, IAAF over the dope case of Damola Osayomi.
Depending on how her case is handled, the athlete could be facing two years in the cooler.
There have been concerns over the status of the athlete five months after testing positive to banned stimulant methylhexaneamine at the Commonwealth Games 2010 in New Delhi India. Osayomi and the federation have been in the dark as there was no follow up to the case after the New Delhi Games.
Methylexaneamine is a substance classed as an S6 stimulant on the Prohibited List and is prohibited in-competition. Bans involving this substance can range up to two-years.
Over the past two years, there has been increasing evidence that methylhexaneamine is present in supplements and other products.
Last year methylhexaneamine featured prominently at the Commonwealth Games with a couple of Indian and Nigerian athletes including Osayomi and Samuel Okon testing positive. Okon could receive lesser penalty having wave his right to have his B sample tested.
Rudisha rushes into longer distance
World athlete of 2010 David Rudisha is the latest name to be announced for the Zlatá Tretra meeting in Ostrava on May 31, where for the first time the Kenyan will compete in an event longer than his specialist 800m distance as he takes to the 1000m.
Rudisha, who twice broke the 800m world record last year with 1:41.09 and 1:41.01, has already started the year in fine form, running a world-leading 1:43.88 in Melbourne. The world record for the 1000m was set 12 years ago by former Olympic champion Noah Ngeny, who ran 2:11.96 in Rieti.
In recent years Rudisha’s arch-rival Abubaker Kaki is the only athlete to get close to that mark, running a Sudanese record of 2:13.62 last year in Eugene.
But contrary to earlier reports, Rudisha – who won the 800m in Ostrava last year with 1:44.03 – is quick to play down any talk of breaking the world record. “I understand why people might ask me about the world record but really I can’t talk of this yet,” said the 22-year-old. “I aim to run a strong race and to run well but I think it is not realistic to think of world record for my first attempt at the distance.”
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