Former British high jumper Mike Edwards finally got the chance to represent Nigeria at the 2018 African Senior Athletics Championship in Asaba after a failed attempt to switch allegiance.
Born to Jamaican father and a Nigerian mother, Edwards was raised in the United Kingdom.
In April, he was barred from competing for Nigeria at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia because he represented Britain at the European Junior Championships in 2009.
Prior to this, the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) had frozen transfer of allegiance process citing concerns over exploitation of young African athletes.
Speaking to ACLSports.com, Edwards said he decided to switch allegiance from Britain to Nigeria for ‘legacy sake’.
“Why would I want to miss an opportunity like this? It’s a lifetime opportunity and I wanted to take advantage of that to be a Nigerian high jumper. To be a part of a growing legacy; it means the world,” Edwards said.
“The fact I am able to be here and to inspire the generation to come in the next circle that was all it was all about. Hopefully, someone was watching and would want to mimic what I did and even better. Legacy is everything.”
On why it took him so long to make the decision, he added: “Maturity, I was still very young I was just looking at today and not the future and once I realised my future and my ties here to Nigeria was much more than the surface it was an easy decision. I am 28 now I expect to keep pushing on to that next level and hopefully you all will see more of me.”
The former British jumper went on to emphasise that he has no regrets having ruffled feathers in the process of his switch.
“To create something new you have to do something you have never done before and when you do that you will definitely ruffle some feathers. I am a very direct person who stands for what I believe, self-determined, self-made athlete when it comes to certain things.
“Something like this is what I have been preparing for and it is just something that would help me develop as an athlete, as a man and build my maturity.
“If I did create some enemies then they were my peers, to begin with, that’s how I see it and what I did would create an opportunity for other people to follow my footsteps. If I created enemies then so be it.”
