Endurance Ojokolo

"In my first marriage, my husband wasn’t really supportive of me being a coach. But I am stubborn; coaching is what I do and what I love, and so I went for it. One of the major reasons that marriage failed was because of my career. We were together for 12 years, but there was a lot of quarrelling going on, especially when I had to travel for competitions or when I had to go to the stadium to train my athletes. I wasn’t ready to give up my career as a coach, so I formally ended the marriage in October, 2021. When you hear that a lot of women had to quit coaching because of the lack of support of their spouses, that’s actually the truth."

"I go to where I am needed and I owe no one any apology for working for Rivers."

"Government has done everything so; it is left for us to pay back the kind gesture. We had good training, good facilities and good coaches. If any state deserves to win this festival, it should be Rivers."

"The number one reason many female coaches are not encouraged to stick with this career is the lack of support, and what I mean by support is about the Federation having your back. There are not many female coaches. There are about 10 of us in the country that I know of right now, but we are not being encouraged and supported. We need exposure. We can only get better when we are exposed, but we are not getting that from the Federation. A lot of the time you see a team consisting of four male coaches and one female coach, or none at all; where is the gender equity? These are some of the reasons women give up on coaching, because we are not getting the right support."

"We have prospects for the Rio Games. We are in camp right now and we are working hard. The athletes want to go to Rio and win medals and do the nation (Nigeria) proud. We are all working together to ensure that we go to Rio to win medals and do the nation proud. The athletes want to win because they know that there is something good awaiting them and they stand the chance of making good contacts thereafter. These are the future stars of Nigeria. This kind championship was used to discover the likes of Endurance Ojokolo, Blessing Okagbare, Obinna Metuh and many other stars. It is a step in the right direction and should be sustained."

"I am so disappointed in those people who said our athletes fumbled in Durban. In the first place, people should look at the circumstances our athletes travelled to Durban. About one week to the competition, athletes from other countries were already on ground in Durban, but our athletes did not even know whether they would make the trip or not. Some of our key athletes couldn’t make the trip due to one reason or the other. Coaches were also affected. I want Nigerians to celebrate the athletes. At this stage of our preparation for Rio Olympics, what they need is encouragement. We must not do things that will make the athletes remember the hard way they made the trip to Durban."

"Meet Endurance Ojokolo, one+ of finest female sprinters Nigeria has produced. In 2005 she got to the 4x100m final of the World Champs & 14yrs later, she's the coach of @Dushos to his debut."

"I’m excited about running at the African Masters Championships. And most definitely I will love to race against Ojokolo. Perhaps when the younger ones see us perform they will want to go and replicate it as they participate actively."