Sydney 2000 Olympics Silver medallist Glory Alozie says Nigerian athletes need more local competitions to improve their performances. Glory Alozie was speaking during the Making of Champions Grand Prix in Lagos last week.
Glory Alozie enjoyed a spectacular career during her active days and won several medals for Nigeria including Silver at the 1996 World Juniors, two Gold medals at the 1996 and 1998 editions of the African Championships, and Silver medals at both the World Indoor (60m Hurdles) and World (outdoor) Championships in 1999 in addition to her Sydney 2000 Olympic medal.
Speaking during the recently concluded MoC Grand Prix at the Yabatech Sports Complex in Lagos the former 100m hurdles athlete wasn’t particularly impressed with the fact that home-based athletes are unable to improve as they should due to limited amount of competitions.
Speaking on her own area of speciality where Tobi Amusan seems to be the shining light with little or no competition the Olympic medallist said: “From what I know, hurdles is an event where you have to participate in numerous competitions. Participating in one, two or three competitions in a year is not enough.
“During my time we had many competitions we took part in and we had many people in different events. So when you remember you have many competitors and if you don’t have a good time you will be left out, that gears you up. But we don’t have many people competing with Tobi (Amusan) today and the difference is really much so these athletes need to compete more,” she lamented.
“Let’s give them more competitions and see how they will improve because one or two competitions monthly is not even enough. We need to organise more competitions for the athletes because the more you compete as an athlete it helps you as competitions are also a part of training, they put you in more shape and help your coach make you better. So it’s not just about training they need to compete more.”
As a certified coach who is signed on to the MoC coaching crew Alozie shared her view on the athletes at the meet saying she believes they can compete favourably with those based outside the country.
“Yes of course we have a lot of people that are ready and that have run good times.” Adding that “This competition is really good because it’s like a preparation for them towards the Abuja trials.”
Finally on her assessment of MoC athletes at the Grand Prix she said: “We tried our best although we have some of our athletes that are injured but those that were fit have competed well. Emmanuel Ojeli won the 400m, Favour Ekpekpe came second in the men’s 200m final while Joy Udo-Gabriel was also second in the women’s 100m final.”
