Aftermath of Daegu flop, Nigeria drops to 37th position in World athletics

Submitted by Sunny Oke Oluku on 9 September 2011 - 3:15pm
Nigerian 4x400m women in Daegu

After a poor outing in the just ended IAAF World Championships held in Daegu, South Korea, Nigeria has been ranked 37th in the world by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF).

Nigeria failed to win a medal at the championships but produced two individual finalists and the two relay teams, the women's 4x100m and 4x400m teams made it to the final.

Sprinter Blessing Okagbare was Nigeria's best performer at the nine-day championships, placing fifth in the women's 100m in 11.12 seconds to equal Nigeria's best performance record in the event held by Mary Onyali.

For her effort, the three-time Nigeria champion got four points according to IAAF classifications.

Okagbare also anchored the women's 400 relay team of Gloria Asumnu, Damola Osayomi and Agnes Osazuwa to a seventh placed finish which earned the team and Nigeria two points.

Nigeria got one point each from high jumper, Doreen Amata who made history as the first Nigerian woman to make it to the final of her event at a global competition as well as the women's 1600 relay team of Omolara Omotosho, Ajoke Odumosu, Margaret Etim and Bukola Abogunloko.

Both Amata and the relay team placed last and got one point each.

Nigeria thus amassed a total of eight points to finish joint 37th with Turkey but ahead of Sudan, Tunisia and Zimbabwe who all have athletes who made it to the podium.

Sudan had Abubakar Kaki who won a silver medal in the men's 800m; Tunisia has Ghribi Habiba who also won a silver medal in the women's 3000m steeplechase while Zimbabwe has 2011 American collegiate sensation, Makusha Ngonidzashe who picked the bronze medal in the men's long jump.

Kenyan, Africa's number one ranked team with seven gold medals, six silver and four bronze medals is ranked the third best in the world after USA and Russia.

Nigeria has won a total of six medals, three silver and three bronze medals since her debut appearance in Helsinki, Finland in 1983 when the championships' inaugural edition was held.

The last time Nigeria appeared at the podium was in 1999 in Seville at the sixth edition with Glory Alozie (100m Hurdles silver),Francis Obikwelu (200m bronze) and the men's 4x100 relay team(bronze) winning the medals.