IAAF Flop: A Wake Up Call

The 8th IAAF World Youth Championship in Ukraine has come and gone. Just like the 2012 London Olympics,Team Nigeria returned home from the championship without a medal. Nigeria’s 30th place finish at the tourney is a testament to the fact that poor preparation for any tournament cannot yield any meaningful results.

Though Team Nigeria were able to record four finals as against the three finals at the last edition in France with several athletes posting personal best, as well as, season best as recorded by the girls’ medley relay team.

Jamaica with six gold and two bronze medals was top on the table, followed by Kenya (four gold, three silver and four bronze.) Australia and Ethiopia had three gold medals, while the United States finished with two gold medals. Hosts, Ukraine had one gold.

Critics are asking why Team Nigeria could not improve her previous achievement, at least, to clinch any medal in Ukraine. Nigeria’s best moment in the championship to date was the silver medal won in the 400m event by Helen Okpanachu at Poland ’99.

The popular saying that: “he who fails to plan, plans to fail” has proven real for the National Sports Commission, NSC and other relevant authorities who failed to prepare the team adequately for the championship, hence Team Nigeria’s woeful outing in Ukraine.

There is urgent need for concerned sporting authorities to imbibe the culture of long term planning and avoid the fire brigade approach that has characterised preparations by sports associations for major events.

There is also the need to improve on the sporting facilities across the country for athletes to sharpen their skills ahead major tourneys. The scouting departments of sports federations should comb the nooks and crannies of the countries to discover budding talents.

With the 8th IAAF Youth Championship now part of history, the NSC should commence preparation for the 2016 Brazil Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games in earnest.

Other countries that want to make podium finish in Brazil have already begun preparations since the 2012 Games ended in London, same cannot be said of Nigeria. Stakeholders are yet to come to terms with the reality that only approriate and long term preparation could guarantee medal(s) for Team Nigeria in major championships, not shoddy last minute preparations.

With the next Commonwealth Games is barely a year away, it is expected that the NSC starts preparations now to halt Team Nigeria’s consistent poor outing in major championships.