|
 |   |
EVENTS Fantasy Central Inside Game Multimedia Central Statitudes Your Turn Message Boards Email Newsletters Golf Guide Cities Work in Sports
CNNSI.com GROUP
COMMERCE
|  |
Nigerians pray for Glory in Sydney
LAGOS, Aug 17 (AFP) - Nigeria's appropriately named Glory Alozie is the country's brightest hope for an athletics medal at the Sydney Olympics. The president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) Yomi Adeyemi-Wilson has already tipped Alozie and sprinter Francis Obikwelu for top honours at the summer games. Four years after hitting the limelight at the National Sports Festival, this 23-year-old, 100 metres hurdler has literally raced to the top of her sport. In 1998, her debut season on the international circuit, Alozie ran 12.44 seconds in Monte Carlo to set a new national and African record. She added gold at the World Cup in South Africa in the same year. A year later she won a silver medal at the World Athletics Championships in Seville, Spain. Last year Alozie added another gold at the 7th All-Africa Games to her impressive tally. Her remarkable progress can be attributed in a large part to her changing base to Spain where she has been exposed to better training facilities and more regular competitions. "Training in Nigeria was very tough. There were days when I went hungry or did not eat well because I didn't have the money to do so," Alozie said. "In Spain, everything was laid out for me. All I needed was to concentrate on my training and stay healthy." Alozie, who started out in the 100m dash, also had to adjust to new hurdling techniques. She must have been a quick learner because before long she was challenging top-class stars like Ludmila Enqvist, Olga Shishigina, Michelle Freeman and Melissa Morrison. This season she has been consistent despite a hamstring injury that kept her out of action in May. In June at the Paris meeting Alozie placed second behind Shishigina while a week later in Rome she came a disappointing sixth. "She had just recovered from an injury which kept her off the tracks for over a month, so her performance in Rome was understandable. But a fit Glory has all it takes to rule the world. She will win in Sydney," predicted Nigeria's athletics coach Amelia Edet. Alozie will not be drawn into making any hurried predictions for Sydney. "Anything can happen at the Olympics. We just have to wait and see," said the devout Christain whose best this year is the 12.54 she recorded in Zurich in August. Nigerians have closely followed the career of this pint-sized athlete (she stands at 1.50 metres and weighs 60 kilogrammes) that most of them know that Gail Devers of the United States of America stands between Glory and gold in Sydney. Devers has beaten the Nigerian in four meetings this season but Nigerians hope the unpredictability of sports leaves a window for Alozie, not Devers, to be crowned Olympic champion in Australia.
|
