By  Ben Efe
Nigerian junior athletes and their birth certificate, were a major topic of discussion at the IAAF World Junior Championships, which was concluded last Sunday with Nigeria racking in three silver medals. Margaret Etim won an individual 400m silver. She then teamed up with the women 4x400m to bag another silver, while the men 4x400m won the third silver.

High flyer... Nigeria’s Stanley Gbagbeke jumping in the final of the men’s long jump at the African Championships in Nairobi, Kenya. photo by AFP

But local athletics officials who were in Moncton, Canada for the championships subjected the Nigerian delegation to ridicule as they questioned the true ages of Etim and Stella Silas.

However, it was gathered that the world athletics governing body, IAAF did not take the protestations seriously, as it seems to be satisfied with the documents of the athletes, which stated that they were under the stipulated age group of under-20.
“It was such an embarrassment for the country. Even though the IAAF did not take any action, we shouldn’t take athletes who are overaged to such competitions.

“It was only Chizoba Okodogbe who was born in Arkansas, officials did not scrutinize, they were satisfied with her true age,” said former athlete, Rashid Balogun who resides two hours drive from Moncton, Canada.

Efforts to reach the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN president, Chief Solomon Ogba proved abortive. He was the leader of delegation to the Championships.

Nigeria sent a total of 16 athletes to the championships. It was learnt that the AFN also smuggled certain individuals into the delegation, some of them were paraded as journalists.