Two-time Olympic medallist Enefiok Udo-Obong and an athletics expert Bambo Akani have described the women’s 4x100m relay team as the strongest medal hopeful for Nigeria at the 2024 Olympic Games which will be held in Paris from July 26 to August 11.
Team Nigeria are bound to make their 18th appearance at the global sports showpiece in Paris, aiming to increase the 27 medals the country has won since they began to feature in Helsinki in 1952.
Athletics has won 14 out of the 27 medals that Nigeria has won at the Olympics, hence the attention on the country’s track and field stars to deliver again in Paris.
With eight of the 14 athletics medals coming from the relays, Udo-Obong, who anchored the country to gold in the men’s 4x400m during Sydney 2000 and bronze in Athens 2004 tipped the women’s 4x100m team to shine at the Games this year.
“It’s difficult for us to predict because athletes come in different forms but I will say our women’s 4x100m tem look very good. That’s our strongest team in my opinion. When you add women’s 100m hurdles and women’s long jump, we have a competitive edge,” Udo-Obong, who is now the Technical Advisor to the Saudi Arabia Athletics Development Programme told our correspondent.
Akani, who is also the founder of the athletics movement, Making of Champions, also tipped the quartet for success.
“I will say from the relays perspective, we do have a great opportunity to pick up one or two medals. The women’s 4x100m is a strong team especially when you add Tobi Amusan to the list. The men’s 4x100m as well as a strong team if the athletes like Favour Ahse and Godson Brume can replicate their time from the NCAA.”
At the 2023 African Games in Ghana, Amusan teamed up with Justina Eyakpobeyan, Olayinka Olajide and Fore Abinusawa and anchored Nigeria to gold in a time of 43.05s ahead of Liberia (44.02s) and hosts Ghana in 44.21s.
They won gold again at the Africa Senior Athletics Championship in Cameroon.
Fore Abinusawa is however not in the team to Paris, but the likes of Tima Godbless, and Favour Ofili – who both ran at the World Relays in May to qualify Nigeria for the event – and Rosemary Chukwuma are in the team.
