The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Chief Tonobok Okowa, has commended Nigeria’s young track and field athletes following their historic performance at the 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Dakar, Senegal, describing the outing as clear evidence of progress in the nation’s grassroots sports development.
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Nigeria secured three athletics gold medals at the Games—surpassing its previous all-time best of two gold medals recorded at the inaugural edition in Singapore in 2010.
The golden haul came via a historic sprint double in the 100m events by Gift Bright (10.28 seconds, a new Games record) and Rosemary Nwankwo (11.16 seconds), alongside Praise Ugoh, who clinched gold in the women’s 400m in a personal best of 52.76 seconds.
Reacting to the team’s achievement, Okowa expressed satisfaction with the athletes’ output, particularly given that Nigeria fielded a relatively small athletics contingent of five competitors in Dakar.
With the three gold medals, Nigeria finished fourth on the overall athletics medal table behind Ethiopia, China, and Kenya.
Okowa, who also serves as a Senior Vice President of the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), stated that the results demonstrate that the federation’s sustained investment in identifying and nurturing young talents is yielding tangible dividends.
The Nation Newspaper
“We can categorically say that the performance shows that our work in grassroots sports development is getting better,” Okowa said. “We went there with about five athletes, and they performed well.
We will continue to work hard, and I will not relent in grooming these athletes until they attain stardom.”
The AFN president, however, called for stronger institutional backing and improved funding from the government and corporate stakeholders to sustain the momentum and prepare the athletes for future global competitions, including the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
He added that the federation is planning structured training and camping programs to ensure the young medalists transition seamlessly into world-class senior competitors.
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