Track And Field Athletes

"Once the governments are on board, it makes a massive difference to the sport."

"Africans can be sprinters, too."

"I always think about her but I just try not to let it get into me that much and then just block it out and move forward."

"I believe there is a medal in these legs and it only needs the determination and the willpower to do it."

"If somebody took it as disrespect, I'm really sorry."

"I used to train without shoes."

"Shoes were more expensive and we couldn’t afford that because we lived with our extended family, so it was difficult for us to get things."

"So I used to train without shoes in both football and athletics. I would wear a pair of old pants that one of my uncles used to wear back when he was in school. It was just a generational thing."

"I’m the Olympic champion."

"It’s basically me carrying her through every stride that I take inside the field."

"She’s watching up there, and she’s really, really happy."

"Great achievement looking at the Olympics, looking at the age, first Olympics, national record. Not everybody makes it to the final, I am grateful for what happened today."

"What I learned tonight is that, make sure you perfect everything according to the race and don't leave out anything."

"I think, for me, I can’t be the face of athletics because I’m not arrogant or loud like Noah (Lyles). So, I believe Noah is the face of athletics."

"I'm really grateful for the team around me. They really pushed me through thick and thin."

"I have started light training with the advice of my coach. I feel no pain in the angle now but I will take it slowly as per the program."

"Obviously I want to compete in the Diamond League. It is the crème de la crème in athletics and having one Motswana (Montsho) competing there has given us hope. We have to work harder and stay disciplined to achieve it"

"The injury has affected my year activities as I missed on international competitions and representing my country. However, it’s part of the sport, I aim to come a better person and take off where I left."

"Anything is possible."

"I don’t usually allow challenges to affect my performance, I have to look out for the positive side of everything."

"“For Greece, damn it.”"

"it will be wrong for anyone to say we have reached our full potentials in sports."

"I am the only person to represent my country without a coach here. I am really proud of myself."

"I am very excited because this is my first appearance in the Commonwealth Games. The time I returned didn’t really matter and all I wanted was to win, which I have been able to achieve. I feel good with the way I ended the season. I am surprised at winning the gold medal but it’s late in the season and anything can happen. I would say it was my best race, my best finish to a season."

"I was not excited, because I came here to set a pv that is what is on my mind. But I still thank God because this is my first time coming to an international competition like this. For making it to be fifth I know next year or any world championship later, I'm going to work hard. So I'm going to better my time and I'm going to work better than this..."

"Our parents brought us up in a deep Catholic faith. This faith is very important in my life. I think that everything happens according to God's plan. I pray before every competition."

"“I knew I wasn't the favorite [at Trials] and I had to put in the work to make sure I came out successful. But I believe in one thing: ‘Go hard or suffer the rest of your life’.”"

"“No, man, nobody had transportation to school. The only thing you had was ‘Legsus.’ L-E-G-S-U-S. We used to say, ‘You have a Legsus.’ Like L-E-G for the leg, then S-U-S to mimic the Lexus car. ... We have a ‘Footsubishi.’ And then I would say ‘Shoebaru’ ... to mimic the Subaru vehicle. That was the only mode of transportation that we had. If you’d ask me how you get to school, I’d say, ‘I ride the Legsus.’”"

"I wanted to run faster, but in the end, I am happy with my timing. It is a good course with good weather conditions which made it easier for me."

"Imaobong you have done well, the governor is proud of you, the whole state is proud of you and we are happy that you have not disappointed us. As you are leaving for the United States, please do not lose focus, trust God, work harder and do the best you can at all times."

"You know in 4×400 meters, you have to work as a team and this was what we did on the track. We had one spirit, one mind and as a result of determination we clinched the gold medal. The next target for the team is numerous. In Africa, Nigeria is number one in 4x400m and we are grateful to God for making us return the gold medal to Nigeria ones more. Back in 2016, the South African female team defeated us in Durban and right now the gold medal has returned to its rightful owners."

"In a situation where everyone trains differently, it doesn’t help in the relay. Another important thing is equipment; if we have standard equipments, we’ll improve in our performance. All what the country (Nigeria) needs to do for us as a team is for them to give us the financial support, make us train together because when you train alongside your team, definitely the spirit of togetherness is present."

"Ms Abugan wrote to the CGF waiving her rights to have her "B" sample analyzed and a hearing, as provided for within the CGF Anti-Doping Standard (ADS). She also admitted liability."

"Folashade Abugan returned an adverse analytical finding from a test conducted on October 8, 2010, after competing in the women's 400 meter final."

"The Federation Court has determined that Ms Abugan had committed an anti-doping rule violation. Consequently, she has been disqualified from all events she participated in during the Games, with the results nullified. This includes her silver medal in the women's 400m. As she was also a member of her country's second placed 4 x 400m relay team, that result is also nullified."

"Abugan's 'A' sample was found to demonstrate findings consistent with an exogenous origin of endogenous steroids… and indicate an application of testosterone prohormone. She wrote to the CGF waiving her rights to have her 'B' sample analyzed. She also admitted liability."

"I am so happy to win because four years ago I won a bronze medal but this time around, I am the African champion. This season has been a great one for me as I became national champion, won a bronze at the IAAF World Relays and silver at the Commonwealth Games. I am going to train harder ahead of the Continental Cup."

"I am fine now and doing much better. I have started my training. I was formerly in South Africa, but presently I am in Akure, Ondo State. But I hope to be in Lagos next week. By October I will be back to start afresh."

"I started coaching her (Imaobong) in 2017. That was before the National Sports Festival in Abuja. As a matter of fact, she was discovered during the Akwa Ibom Youth Games and I have been coaching her since then. I must appreciate her parents who were gracious enough to release her to us. We were almost strangers then but they allowed her to live with the secretary of Akwa Ibom sports commission who also acted as her godmother. Training her was not easy because she was going to school. While I coached others in the day, I coached her in the evening whenever she returned from school."

"The duo of Imaobong Nse Uko (400m) and Udodi Onwuzurike (200m) won individual gold medals while the 4x400m mixed and the women’s relay teams also won our first ever relay gold medals at the Championships."

"I feel so elated, how I wish I could see her with my eyes now, oh how I will hug her. I told her to trust God for everything, and God is with her. Am so elated."

"I think that was 2016 during inter-house sports, she was in Yellow House. I just looked at her and said can this one do anything? But she surprised everybody, I gave her the name ‘Kenya’ when I saw her sprinting legs. I told her you are going places."

"I am happy that things are working out well and I thank God for the progress made so far. I come from a riverine area in Ibeno local government area where I used to help my parents to catch crayfish. I am equally grateful to my parents and my coaches who are keeping me on my toes. I look forward to having a successful career in athletics."

"It was very tough because of the weather. This is just the beginning of great things in my career. My coach and I really worked hard on this. I’m so excited; it would only get better. Coming here to make so much impact makes me feel so happy. It means more hard work, but the future is so bright."

"Am happy about the whole event as my family and friends are excited too. I am very thankful to God and Mrs Ulaeto, my English teacher who discovered me. She was the one who handed me to coach Effiong Ibok who in inturn left me under the professional training of coach Daniel Umoette. I also appreciate Mrs Janet Bassey, secretary of track and field in Akwa Ibom State Ministry of Youths and Sports. I thank all my teammates too as well as everyone that encouraged me."

"There is Olabisi Afolabi, the famed NUGA alumnus from Ilorin, who helped Nigeria to a silver medal in the 4 x 400 meters at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, the highlight of a very successful athletic career, which included gold at the World Junior Championships in 1994, silver at the 1999 All-Africa Games, and bronze at the 1995 All-Africa Games."

"We need the strength test; as a jumper you need to know what your strength level is."

"As an athlete, I have learnt that it is not really good to keep changing your programme. You need to be consistent as long as you know that it is working for you."

"I have been with you for years and we know ourselves deeply. I think we would make better couple. I have a deep feeling for you. Tried as I did to suppress it, I get more and more troubled."

"In Dakar, Charity was the favourite to win. She was on top of the world ranking at that stage with some quality performances including the 49.29 seconds she ran in Rome which was the second fastest in the African all-time list at the time. I was however unshaken in my resolve to end her dominance over me! In the final, I raced home first in 50.07 seconds with Charity second in 50.13. Wow, I was on top of the world not because it was my second African Championships 400m gold after the win in 1989 in Lagos, but because I was emotionally lifted and I didn’t look back from there, winning the 200m in a new 22.22 seconds personal best. I won our next four encounters in Lausanne, Brussels, Berlin and Moscow at the Grand Prix final before running an altitudes aided 49.52 seconds to win the World Cup in Johannesburg. It was a remarkable turnaround for me and a glorious show by Charity and I that got us ranked 1, 2 in the world. That was the first and so far only time Nigerians would dominate an event in the circuit."