Nigeria’s 1st global Relay medal, indeed the nation’s first ever medal in Athletics at the Olympics, came at the Los Angeles 1984 Games in the men’s 4×400m. Sunday Uti and Innocent Egbunike, arguably Nigeria’s best quarter-milers of that generation, had both already featured in the individual 400m final at the same games. They ran the 1st and final legs respectively for the 4x400m Bronze-medal run, and were joined by Moses Ugbesien and Rotimi Peters on the 2nd & 3rd legs – their medal winning time of 2:59.32 was an African Record which would stand for the next 16 years!
As we spend the next 5 days reminiscing on ALL of Nigeria’s Relay Medals in Olympic & World Championship history, perhaps the most interesting footnote from most of the videos is how we experience the Nigerian story through the commentary of other countries following their own athletes. The above video is clearly focused on Team GB, while later on in this series we’ll also see commentary from USA, Australia and even Canada, as we celebrate Nigeria’s “Perfect 10″ Global RELAY Medals!
The World Relays is a new annual competition (the 2nd edition being held in The Bahamas on May 2nd/3rd), 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 the Top 8 teams in both the 4x100m and 4x400m events automatically qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. For viewers in Nigeria and Africa, the World Relays will show LIVE on SuperSports on May 2nd from 10.50pm – 3.00am on SS7N/SSL, and 11:50pm – 03:10am 0n SS6A/SSL on May 3rd (Nigerian Time).
