Mary Onyali-Omagbemi

"When other nations are planning to win, we are praying. God hears our prayers but you have to help yourselves too."

"The separation of sports and education has made it difficult to discover other stars."

"The table kind of turned on me, instead of me being managed when I was an athlete, now I have to manage people."

"There can only be one Michael Jordan, there can only be one Michael Jackson and there can only be one Mary Onyali."

"Talents are usually found in communities and schools. If kids are not identified early, it would be difficult to train them when they are older."

"Hard work, discipline, determination and dedication. You have to learn what you do and do well in what you do."

"Whenever I lose, I take it as a learning curve; I don’t beat myself over it."

"Sport has always being seen as a man’s domain. It was a breakthrough period for women in sports and I am proud to say that I am one of the leading women that championed the breakthrough which led to the recognition of women in sport, both in Nigeria and Africa."

"If I had got married to someone who was not sport-inclined, a typical African who would want you to have a regular job or stay at home as a mother; it would have been a disaster."

"Wherever they are, despite the situation, they should not lose hope and must keep training."

"Till today, the picture and video are still with the IOC and still at the museum. It shows the true picture of Olympics. We didn’t win the gold or the silver but bronze, however it was a golden bronze. To the IOC it depicts what the Olympics is all about."

"I had not practised or used the starting block before. I was using it in Egypt for the first time. I did not know the blocks had sensors that could detect sensitive reactions, So, I triggered the block before the shot. I was disqualified for misusing it."

"Part of the contract stipulated that you must have a minimum of 2.5 GPA or you would be kicked out. A lot of us were from financially poor background. So, it would be silly to lose such an opportunity."

"Do not focus entirely on sport, because there will be a day when your body will fail you. When that day comes, and you do not have the educational background to face the real life after sport, something will fall off you."

"Personally I believe our female athletes are much better than the males because we are naturally good listeners, attentive, focused and a little more disciplined than the male athletes. The male athletes on the other hand get distracted easily than the females just like mothers will be very attentive to the care and needs of her children and I think that’s why we women bring in anything we do not just sports but in anything we find ourselves."

"There is nothing we can do specially for the male athletes to do better it’s just the way it is. The competition in the male category is stiffer. They do their things with more energy, power, ego etc so they are their own monsters creating their own competition or sports making it more stiffer and competitive. It is every where in the world, it’s a general thing."