Women In Sports

"I think what’s helped me the most is the fact that I never looked too far ahead. I’ve kept my head down, put in the hard work, dreamed big, and tried to treat others the way I would want to be treated. And above all, I’ve been blessed."

"I would be lying if I said that I didn’t have doubts, but at the same time, the player I am, I just always believe that whatever I put my mind to, it’s going to happen. It was a goal and aspiration of mine and I was going to do whatever it took to make that happen. But, yeah, there were many moments along the way where I just thought maybe it wasn’t for me."

"The notion of having a growth mindset has played an instrumental roll in my development as an individual on and off the court. I'm so excited to share what I've learned along the way, with the hope that the youth will be encouraged to pursue whatever they want in life with the confidence and mindset of a champion."

"It doesn’t help to live in the past. I’ve learned it’s not going to change the outcome for us, unfortunately. If it did, I would do that all day every day. But because it doesn’t, it doesn’t help to do that. And all I can do is hope for a better tomorrow and hope for a better next time."

"I got to compete for Team USA for the first time in almost three years. I never truly understood how much weight the USA jersey held until yesterday. It’s been a long and arduous journey to get back here and there were many times I debated calling it quits along the way, but I’m so glad I didn’t. It was all worth it."

"For the longest time, I dreamt of becoming a mom AND a professional athlete. I’m proud to say that I am now both. Thank you to all the badass mothers who came before me and showed me that it was possible, and here’s to those who will follow in our footsteps."

"They have girls who we think have male hormones. They are girls who are like men."

"There are people who were not happy with me and they are the ones who brought the malicious allegations."

"We believe that every girl in society, regardless of her ethnic background, should get equal chance in sports to have fun, develop her talents and enjoy being in an inclusive community. We believe that youth sports is the best tool for girls to develop self-motivation, resiliency and strong appreciation for their own health and well- being. To help young girls become the future ethical leaders and positive contributors for our society, we offer training and equipment for them free of charge twice a week."

"In recent years, when I am running, it is mostly for the joy of it...to give God glory with my talent and to inspire other people. I don’t attach my accomplishments to any country or to anyone."

"You can be great today and be loved by everyone and the next day you are out in the cold. It is like you are working hard your whole life for a run of a couple of seconds and sometimes you might not get rewarded for it. So, one has to take nothing for granted because nothing is guaranteed in athletics."

"My talent was first discovered at a school athletics day a year after I arrived Norway. We had different events such as sprint, long jump and high jump. I was the fastest girl, and the guys were afraid to run against me, so, I ended up running by myself, but with the best times of all children. The teachers encouraged me after that to take up athletics."

"It would have been a great honour to represent Nigeria at some point, but the IAAF has made it very hard to switch allegiance. Now, the athlete has to wait at least two years to compete for another country in an international championships."

"It’s love and unity, you can’t be in a good place and still have hatred for one and another? you have to be together."

"Make the best out of my training, to improve everyday, and reach the potential that I feel inside me and haven’t shown yet. If I manage to do all that, the result will surely come."

"Meeting South Africa in the final is what we have been praying for because we want to play them again ."

"Sport gave me happiness … After that period of genocide, if there is no sport, I cannot be alive at that time.”"

"“When I was still a child, I never played girl’s games … I used to play all sort of boy’s games, including football.”"

"They have girls who we think have male hormones. They are girls who are like men.” — “Our team was scared … when they got to the pitch, they conceded because they were scared.”"

"I never imagined working in men’s football before, but right now I am certain it is where I want to be.”"

"We studied how the Ugandan team played, I myself analysed and revised their tactics, so I had a clear plan to stop them. I knew their strength and weaknesses; I was aware of their attacking threats but also their weaknesses in defense.”"

"With this money I can now dream to do my own things. Maybe start a business. I would like to start another football club if I get a sponsor.”"

"But if this doesn’t happen, the least we can settle for is the first runners-up position."

"“I’m glad this matter has been resolved. I’m looking forward to move on with my life.”"

"The Ugandan national team is a difficult team but we’re not scared to face them."

"“We didn’t win against them (Uganda) for over the past decade but this time I think that we have whatever it takes to get past them.”"

"“We got this result because they played as a team.” — After a 3‑3 draw"

"Our ambitions for the second leg is to avoid conceding a single goal and trying to at least score a goal. We know that a win or a draw below three goals will be to our advantage, so that’s what we will try to do. But that doesn’t mean that we will play a defensive game.”"

"I told my players, at the break, to be more confident on the ball, build their game in Uganda’s half to avoid errors that can lead us to unexpected counter attacks.”"

"I wanted to blame myself, but I don’t know what to say. When a goalkeeper does her possible best, just a silly goal would come and mess everything up."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"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."

"It was with mixed feelings that we got the news of the disqualification of the Russia’s women relay quartet due to a doping infraction by one of her team members. On the one hand we had this joy of becoming Olympic silver medallists, but on the other, a feeling of slight disappointment knowing that the winning quartet had an undue advantage due to one of its members spiking her system with banned substances. This type of revelation comes with a bit of a sad feeling considering the amount of work you honestly put in and believing (erroneously as it turns out) that everyone was competing on a level playing field. And when you now find out that some persons had undue advantage due to the use of banned substances and it deprives you of what should have been rightly yours at the time, it gives you a feeling of sadness and slight depression and disappointment in and towards the system."

"It really gladdens my heart to have my bronze medal upgraded to a silver medal because it just simply gives me the drive to work even harder and have a rededication to a clean sports for us all."

"For me and the rest of the quartet, it was as if that moment should just draw on and on. Having put in so much work and now seeing it been rewarded with a bronze medal at such an epoch making event was more than words could describe. Little did we know that fate had a whole different surprise package for us all a couple of years down the line."

"I will also like to use this medium to appeal to all my fellow athletes, both young and old, that no matter what you think you are facing now, I want you to just believe in yourself and continually tell yourself that the seeming punishments and disappointments of today if endured will lead to untold glories in the nearest future."

"Having represented Nigeria twice at the Olympic games, I can confidently say it is unarguably the pinnacle of any athlete’s dream and getting a medal in such an epic event can be deemed to be one of the highest achievements and a dream come true that any athlete can hope for."

"Agnes Osazuwa has won the last women's 100m semifinal, clocking 11.35s to beat Gloria Asumnu who finished 2nd #NigeriaOlympicTrials"

"At the 2008 Beijing Olympics where I and my fellow team mates (Oludamola Osayomi, Gloria Kemasuode, Franca Idoko and Halimat Ismaila) qualified through to the finals and ended up winning a bronze medal in the women’s 4x100m relay, it was nothing short of an electrifying moment. It was as if the world stood still because all the hard work, discipline and sacrifice just paid off."

"I have left Kristianstad because my contract with the club was over. I had a wonderful time at the club but I have resolved leave the team, at least move to a new environment for a fresh challenge in Sweden. Well, I am grateful to Kristianstad and wish them good luck next season, For me, I have decided to sign for Djurgarden for a season."

"I have really liked the idea of moving to the capital [Stockholm] and it's a dream come true. I cannot wait to meet my new teammates and also looking forward to the new challenge."

"My mum was a strong woman but she didn’t really understand what the sport is all about. She was there for me whenever she can and whatever she could do for me, she tried her best."

"They (Government of Nigeria) must catch the athletes when they are young. We started very young. They must encourage the athletes with good incentives to be able to compete."

"We were already at the 1976 Montreal, Olympics in Canada and waiting for the opening ceremony before we pulled out of the competition a day before it. Everybody was disappointed because of the hard work we had put in preparing for the Olympics for four years but it wasn’t the end of the world."