Vivian Eyes Shot Put Gold

Nigeria’s Shot Put athlete, and two-time Olympian, Vivian Peters-Chukwuemeka has declared her ambition to vie for the gold medal at the 2012 Olympic Games.Vivian, one of the athletes of Team Nigeria, who left the shores of the country for their Surrey camp in London last weekend, is upbeat that she would have a good outing that will surpass his previous Olympic record this year.

She placed 14th in the shot put event of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia and 24th at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games. Vivian, who emerged African champion in 2002, 2006 and 2008, however, is targetting a gold medal in this year’s Summer Games, saying “I’m in good shape for the Olympics, hopefully if I can throw well, my target is to win gold in London.

“I’m happy with my preparation for the Games, especially my outing at the All Nigeria Championship in Calabar, Cross River State and the Africa Championship held in Porto Novo in Benin Republic.”

The graduate of Azusa Pacific University in 2006 with a Bachelor of Social Work, won gold medal in shot put at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has won three consecutive titles at the All-Africa Games from 1999 to 2007. She also won the women’s Shot Put with a season’s best throw of 18.18m in Calabar.

Vivian, who clocked 37 years on 4 May this year, set a new record for the African championships with a throw of 18.86m, beating the 17.60 record which she set in Tunisia 2002.

She has also beaten the 18.35m African record, which she  set in 2006.

—Taiwo Adelu