Nigeria Can Rule Athletics with Right Funding –Fasuba
04.08.2008
Fresh from conquering the world at the 60m event of the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain Nigeria’s Olusoji Fasuba returned to Nigeria to continue his preparations for summer Olympiad in Beijing, China. The African 100m record holder took time out at the Coca-cola National Under-18 Championship at the Teslim Balogun Stadium, Lagos at the weekend to throw lights on his preparation for the Games. Writes DURO IKHAZUAGBE
The African Senior Championships in Addis Ababa is just days away and I hear most of the top stars are asking to be left out. Are you also asking for exemption? Yeah, that’s true. Believe me, if the Mobil Championship is to hold say this month, it won’t be a good time for most of us just coming out of the Indoor season. For most of us who ran Indoor, it will mean peaking almost three times before the Olympic. That will not be too good. You can imagine peaking for the Indoor, peaking for the African Championship, peaking for Mobil before the Olympic proper in August, that will be too fast and meaningless. But if one is able to follow the Olympic training programme and peak, say around July for the Mobil Track and Field Championship, there is the possibility of been able to sustain it till when the gun will boom for the race in Beijing. That’s how I see it. So for this Championship, I think people should just be given wild cards to compete. Why not the home based? After all, I won my first major title (gold medal in 100m at the Afro Asia Games 2003) as a home based. I believe anybody can still do so. What is important is to get the points. I think is fair for the home based to be given the chance to try their luck. But if they (AFN) insists, we will be there. Don’t forget that this is an Olympic year and there is no money. Even at the African Championship the best one can get is 500 dollars which is nothing compare with what is on offer in most of the big races in Europe. Don’t forget that most Africans run for money to survive. But for the love of our country we will be there., let’s just hope that there is no injury to worry about.
It’s almost a month now since you won the IAAF World Indoor 60m title in Valencia, Spain. Has it in anyway bolstered your preparations for the Olympic in Beijing?
As I speak to you now, my state government (Ekiti State) has really supported me in the preparation. My Governor (Engr Segun Oni) has really done to me the type of honour I never imagine possible in my life. Can you imagine giving a recognition while holding the state executive meeting. The first time it happened, I thought, well it is the usual government stuff but when it happened again when the governor was holding meetings with important obas in the state, I just realised that I need to train harder so as not to let down the support of such people who see people like me as role model for youths. But beyond this, the Olympic preparation of any nation should not be left to just may be one state alone or the NSC alone. We are a country of 36 states and several hundreds of multinational companies doing business in the clountry. They all need to pull resources together to give the country’s entire team a good preparation. They should not be doing this for only football alone. They should realise that sports is one sector that has continue to act as a unifying factor for the country. When the Nigerian relay team wins, nobody realise where the quartet come from but Nigeria. I am happy for what Cocacola is doing now for the Under-18 Championship. If another company takes the Under-20 and another the schools’ sports, I bet you, we ‘ll be having competition all around the year and new talents will be waiting in the wing to take over from those currently on stage. It was like that in the past. We can still bring back the glory of athletics if every one is involved and not be talking of the NSC alone, afterall, what is the budget for sports in the country.
On my preparation for the Olympic, I will say I almost died of exhaution in the last two weeks. But since I was able to pull through, the last couple of days have been fine for me and I remain positive that I will do well at the Olympic . I am taking my Olympic programme as planned. After the indoor, I am beginning to get my bearing outdoor. And of course, as you are aware since I came back and the National Stadium in Lagos was closed, I had to relocate to Owerri to continue my programme. So far, it has been good. Owerri has become a second home, very hospitable people.
On the news of training grants for elite athletes, I think it is a good one but I am yet to see the money. I have only heard it just the way you journalists have reported it. But more seriously, if we are talking of training grants there is the need to give something really tangible because everyone else in the world going for the Games is also craving for the gold medal. Give something tangible that will take the mind of the athlete away from little things of survival so that he or she can concentrate on the medal.
Having Lived in Germany and Greece where you pay for virtually everything that an athlete need to perform well, how much in essence, do you think an elite athlete like Fasuba needs to prepare for the Olympic?
As a Nigerian I can tell you I need one billion dollars because we all love money in this country. But seriously speaking, I was at training once in Europe and I asked my coach how much does my training partner gets as grant in a year. My coach told me that this athlete whose personal best is 9.99secs gets 250,000 Euros from both the French government and sponsors to train in one year. Let’s not talk about Asafa Powell because he’s a world champion and way ahead. But how about Marc Burns, he finished 7th at the last World Championship in Osaka, Japan. He gets 150,000 dollars as training grants but here I am struggling on my own without such financial support yet finishing fourth at the same in Osaka. For now, I don’t even know what we are going to get. Some say 20,000 dollars, others are saying 50,000 dollars. Until I receive the grant, I don’t know what to say yet. But one thing that I know is that government cannot do it alone. They will fail if they want it that way. There are too many things competing for the cash available and so, what I think the government should do is compell some of the big businesses to share in the burden for sports to get a breather of fresh air. If we do it that way, Nigerian athletes will shock the world because it will no longer be struggling for stomach as most of us are doing now but full concentration on programmes to lift Nigeria back to the top. Right now, mentally, I am ready but financially, I am not. I need all the encouragement that will not make me think of running for money but go hide somewhere and concentrate fully on my programme. That is how Olympic champions are made. Believe me, if I have the type of money I am looking for now, most of these press interviews will reduce because I will have less time to talk.
Personally, how would you describe your victory in the 60m at the World Indoor Championship in Valencia, Spain?
Being a world champion, something achieved training with my own money means so much to me. I treasure the gold. Perhaps, if I had the right backing that European and American athletes are getting, I should be talking of getting nearer the world record in the sprint. Atleast, the African record (9.85secs) is something to tell that with the right mix I can get to the very top. But I was injured after the African record. I needed so much money for my multivitamins. I could only pick what I could afford. That sort of slowed me down until I recovered. I really appreaciate what God did for me . I cannot say I achieved the Indoor title on my own because I know what I spent. While others were spending over 200,000 Euros on Multivitamins, I alone know what I spent and it was nowhere near that figure, yet God crowned my effort. That is why my coach keeps saying that my talent is divine otherwise, if I get half of what Asafa (Powell) spents on training, the World title will be mine.