Nigeria's former champion in women's sprints, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, on Wednesday in Abuja predicted a good outing for Nigeria's athletics team to the Olympic Games in Beijing, China in August.
Onyali-Omagbemi, the first Nigerian to win an individual sprint medal in the Olympics with her 200 meters bronze at Atlanta '96, told Xinhua on phone that the country's athletes will be keen to prove a point in Beijing.
"I'm sure our athletes will spring surprises at the Olympics, just watch out for them," she said in Abuja on Wednesday at the National Stadium venue of the ongoing AFN/Exxon Mobil Track and Field Championships.
"I have heard suggestions that Nigeria should pull out of the games because our medal prospects are bleak, but I believe that's totally wrong," she said.
"We have athletes good enough to win us medals and this suggestion will only serve to spur them on. Athletes don't like it when people don't believe in them and that's when you see them at their best. I strongly believe that we'll win at least three medals at the Olympics. I don't care about the color, all I know is that we can win three medals," she said.
The former fastest woman in Africa, who also won a 4x100m relay bronze at the Barcelona '92 Olympics, said she was impressed with the intensity of the competition for places in the Nigerian team.
"It is a very good development. It is good to see that the others are pushing the top athletes," she added.
(Xinhua News Agency July 4, 2008)