Former African 400 metres athletics queen, Falilat Ogunkoya has advised the present generation of Nigerian athletes to work harder in order to achieve their career dreams.
Responding to a myriad of questions via the social media, the athletics icon explained that for any sports to thrive in Nigeria the leadership of the federations need to be fair, transparent and proactive.
” Any Federation president need to be fair. You know, track and field is measurable. However, during my time, the main difference was that I wanted to run and my coach knows. And importantly, too, I also surrounded myself with people who believed in my goals,” she quipped.
On how things were done differently in her days to support her efforts, she remarked that like her other colleagues, they were categorized into classes ABC in terms of financial support from the government. It was equally important for her to be in the yearly top 5 in the world because of her contract with Nike.
” During my days, we were categorized into ABC and paid by the government accordingly. And there was a difference between grant and competition monies. Therefore, the government should support the athletes financially,” she added.
The Ogun State born former tracks queen went ahead to admonish the new generation athletes to work harder to achieve their goals.
” Some of the athletes of this generation need to be ready to work harder and not to be telling their coaches that the work load is too much. They must realise that only hard work, determination and discipline can take them to the top of their careers,” she advised.
