Enofiong Udo-Obong Blazing the Trail

Nigeria has had several of its renowned athletes exported abroad but exporting her coaches had been somewhat of a jinx, but this is a barrier former Olympic gold medalist, Enefiok Udo-Obong has broken after he was recently appointed the Technical Advisor to the Kingdom of  Saudi Arabia Athletic Development Programme, becoming the first African to head a foreign country’s Athletics federation. The Calabar-born quarter miler  told Kunle Adewale how he beat an American, two Australians and two Britons to the job. Flowing from Nigeria’s poor preparations to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games,  he predicted the country can only win three medals at the Games and voiced his opinion on other salient issues   

Saudi Arabia recently appointed Nigerian Olympic gold medalist, Enefiok Udo-Obong as Technical Advisor of Saudi Arabia Athletic Development Programme and the 2000 Sydney Olympics gold medalist takes over at the kingdom this weekend.

Until this appointment Udo-Obong was the Technical Director of the Lagos State Athletics Association.

“I got the Technical Director of Saudi Athletic Development Programme’s job purely on my training. I must confess, when a call was put through to me that I have been shortlisted for the job, at first I thought it was 419 (fraud), but I was head hunted.There were six of us selected for the interview-two Australians, one American, two Britons and myself and when I saw the CVs of the others I never believed I would be chosen ahead of them. The final stage of the interview was between myself and the other Briton and my being an Olypian gave me the edge, because he had never been to the Olympics before.

Asked how his new job could rub off on other Nigerian athletics coaches, he said, “If the coaches developed themselves the sky is the limit for them. We have many coaches that have developed themselves and are doing very well. In Saudi Arabia, coach Lateef Ogungbesan from Lagos is working there as a coach in a club, Taiwo Ariyo is in the United States and have coached in the Middle East before, Shade Olalekan is doing well in Abu Dhabi. There are many coaches that are actually doing well and my advice to Nigerian coaches is to keep on reading and developing themselves and the opportunity will come.”

On how he hopes to develop Saudi Arabian athletes considering the fact that the oil-rich nation does not boast of the kind of talents we have in Nigeria,  the Olympic gold medalist reacted thus: “ Saudi Arabia weren’t big in football but brought in people that could elevate their football, the same way they are not big in athletics and they’ve brought someone (Udo-Obong) they feel can elevate their athletics. The country is also preparing to host the Olympics in 1932, so, everything they are doing now is in preparation to building up for that time so that they can have Olympians then. For this year’s Olympics, they are having only two athletes going, and I have told them by the time I spend four years with them they would have had about 20 Olympians,” he said.

He is fondly remembered for his race of a lifetime to earn Nigeria a gold medal in 4×400 meters relay at the 2000 Olympics from a losing position.

He will take over from this weekend and lead the Kingdom team to the Olympic Games in Paris France at a time Nigeria faces the danger of not being at the same Games

He is the only Nigerian to win two Olympic medals, winning a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics, and a bronze medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Udo-Obong earned a degree in Human anatomy from the University of Calabar. He also earned an Advanced Master’s degree in Sports Administration and Technology from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), in Switzerland.

Ahead of the this year’s summer Olympics in Paris,  Udo-Obong is of the opinion that Nigeria is not prepared for the sports biggest showpiece.

“The truth is that we’re not prepared for the Olympics. Preparation is not about how much are we giving the athletes over time  but how long have we put the athletes together. Are we trying to prepare? Yes, we are but its probably a little too late. Our preparation should have been over a four-year circle and getting ready in the last two-years. Even there was a lot of controversies over the team list , which shows that we’re not totally ready for it.

“However, we still have a lot of hope to win medals because of some of our established athletes in Tobi Amusan,  Ese Brume and the likes, who a getting closer to winning time. We have hope in javelin and discuss women and also one or two relays. We can have hope. But are we prepared. Is it something that we deserve? I really don’t think so.

“At, best we can win three medals.  I don’t know the colour or the shape but not more than three. If we have to be very sincere with ourselves, we have to make our expectations consciously,” he said.

“We have a young team, a good side and anything else we get from the Games is going to be a bonus. We are going to try, we are going to compete, but we should not be putting pressure on them because our preparation and selection process was not very smooth,” Enefiok expressed.

Udo-Obong won the gold medal in 4 x 400 meter relay at the 2000 Olympics and a bronze medal in the same event at the 2004 Olympics.

In 2000, he was voted Sportsman of the Year, and won the Dele Udo prize for sporting excellence. He has also won the national championships on three occasions, and is a six-time medalist at a national sports festival is Nigeria. Udo-Obong was nominated as one of the 50 most influential young Africans by African Digest in 2002, where he also captained Team Nigeria to the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, UK.

Udo-Obong is a recipient of the Akwa Ibom State Honours Roll, and is also a recipient of the Certificate of Award for Outstanding Contribution to Sports Development in Nigeria.

He is a former board member of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, and chairperson of the Athletes’ Commission. He is also a member of the Athletes’ Commission of the Association of National Olympic Committees in Africa (ANOCA), a member of the Nigerian Olympians Association, a member of the advisory board of the Atlanta 1996 training centre in Atlanta, a member of the Institute of Registered Exercise Professionals, a member of the international Fitness Association (IFA), and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM), as well as other international bodies. He is also the president of the Association of Fitness Practitioners in Nigeria.

Udo-Obong is the author of the motivational book, “The Silver Lining: Turning Major Setbacks into Major Victories”, which has sold over 25,000 copies across the nation.

He was recently appointed a facilitator by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to train athletes in the Athletes Career Program (ACP), a program designed to “help athletes to transition into a productive life after their sporting career.

Until his last appointment in Saudi Arabia, he was the Technical Advicer of the Lagos State Athletics Association.