Lagos State Athletics Association Celebrates Udo-Obong over Saudi Arabia Advisor’s Job

Kunle Adewale 

The Lagos State Athletics Association has announced the appointment of its Technical Director, Enefiok Udo-Obong as the advisor to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Athletics team to the Paris Olympics 2024.

Udo-Obong will also be staying on as the Technical Advisor to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Athletics Development program after the Olympics.

The Association is very excited at the personal achievement of Udo-Obong, which is a testament to his growing stature as a World Athletics Certified Trainer of international repute and the opportunities it portends for Lagos athletes and coaches.

Udo-Obong has been the brains behind the many lofty developmental programs in Lagos State for the past 3yrs

With his guidance, the Lagos Athletics Association hosted more competitions than any other body across the nation and was directly responsible via her competitions, especially the Deji Tinubu Lagos series, for over 50 athletes getting scholarships to the USA. 

Also, the DT Lagos series was directly responsible for one of the National Relay Teams’ qualifications for the world championships and ultimately the Olympics.

Enefiok will continue to support the Lagos Athletics Association as Technical Advisor, whilst Mr Billy Disu will act in the interim as Technical Director.

Udo-Obong, who is an Olympic Gold and Bronze medallist and a Swiss-trained Sports manager served as the Secretary of the main organising committee (MOC) of the just concluded Southwest Athletics Conference (SWAC) held in Abeokuta, where the agenda was set for the Athletics Development in the Southwest region of the country for the next four years.

In his reaction at a media parley to celebrate his new appointment organised by the Lagos State Athletics Association, Udo-Obong that the state for its support during his three-year tenure. 

“When I got the call that I had been shortlisted for the job, I thought it was a fraud, but rather it was headhunting and one of the biggest things in my CV that gave me the job was that I was the Technical Director of the Lagos State Athletics Association and they had seen that there were series of events in Lagos, with its massive population and they found out I was in charge. They called me and tried to ask how I was able to put together such.

“It is not enough to be a former athlete, you don’t end your career when you stop running, you have to engage and train yourself. 

“l got the job purely on my training. There were six of us in the run for the job; two Australians, two Britons, one American and myself. I never thought I could be chosen above them when I saw their CVs

“In the final stage, there were two of us and that was where the Olympic factor played out. I’m an Olympian and he’s not,” Udo-Obong expressed.