Nigeria’s 9th Relay Medal was won in the men’s 4×400 metres at the Athens Olympics by the quartet of James Godday, Musa Audu, Saul Weigopwa and Enefiok Udo-Obong . This is the last 4x400m medal that Nigeria has won on the global stage, and it’s also the last time any Nigerian man has won an Olympic medal in Athletics.
Not since that Olympics has Nigeria had a quartet of male quarter-milers that can challenge for a Relay medal on the global stage. Godday was a 44.90s runner in his prime, back in 2008, though he can still be seen competing on the Nigerian Golden League circuit these days. Weigopwa was also a 45.00s runner, while Audu’s PB was 45.98s and Udo-Obong’s was 45.68s (though he ran an incredible 44 second split to help his other teammates to the 4x400m GOLD at the previous Olympics). Indeed for Nigeria’s men to make it back to contending for 4×400 Relay medals, we need at least three guys capable of going under 45 seconds – can we get back to this one day?
Can the present 4x400m team (including the likes of recent 400m National Champions Abiola Onakoya and Noah Akwu, and the Eko 2012 National Sports Festival Champion, Orukpe Erayokan) return Nigeria to the glory days and bring home a medal at the inaugural World Relay Championships starting tomorrow? Look out for the in the 4x400m heats on Saturday May 24th (12.10am Nigerian time on May 25th) and the finals on Sunday May 25th (12.40am Nigerian time on May 26th) in the Bahamas! (SuperSport 6 on DSTV Channel 204 will show the World Relays LIVE on both nights)!
The World Relays is a new annual competition (the 1st edition being held in The Bahamas on May 24th/25th), where the world’s best Track & Field nations will compete over 10 different events – 4x100m, 4x200m, 4x400m, 4x800m & 4x1500m (both men and women). There is a total prize fund of $1.4 million up for grabs, and for the 4x100m & 4x400m, the 2014 World Relays will serve as the qualifiers for the 2015 World Championships (as will the 2015 World Relays for the 2016 Olympics). For viewers in Nigeria and Africa, the World Relays will show LIVE on SuperSports on May 24th/25th – more details soon!
