INTERVIEW: Okagbare can win Olympic gold, says Chidi Imoh

They don’t come much bigger in Nigerian, African and world Athletics than Chidi Imoh. That is one of the most enduring names in the history of Nigerian sports. He won virtually everything: silver medal at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 4×100 meters relay, gold at the African Championship 100 meters in 1984 and 1985, gold at the 1987 All-Africa Games, gold at the Summer Universiade in Edmonton 1983 and Kobe 1985 and his record still remains at the University of Missouri in Columbia, USA. Imoh, in this soul-searching interview with TheCable, recalls his amazing career, family life and life after retirement  and why Nigeria athletics is still living on past glories. He thinks Commonwealth sprint champion Blessing Okagbare can win a gold medal at the Olympics. 

LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT

It’s a different ball game. I am enjoying it. It’s time consuming, you are no more yourself, you are now caring for another human being all together. It’s different. And I love it. Yes, I have been helping some kids. Like I told you, I have been coaching them. They are Nigerian-American kids. They are more focused on getting scholarship going into universities in America here. So, I have been helping them. Preparing them for scholarship or for the university.

DEVELOPING NIGERIAN ATHLETICS

Well, what I would love to get involved in Nigeria with is the development of athletics. I would‎ love to focus in school sports. They’ll be the most important thing. To catch them young. Not all those old ones. To develop them the way I was brought up. To shape them up and check the one that is good, the potential, all those things. That’s what I want to be involved in. I don’t like already-made. I want to develop young talents.

RETURN TO SCHOOL SPORTS

The government, officials or whoever is in charge has scrapped school sports. We scrapped that link that helped a lot of us. That link that developed us, that link that brought us from our high schools to run against the professionals and beat them. You know that school sports is something that we need too go back to. School sports is the link. That is the link. Inter house sports is the link. If we can go back to that again, if you go to Jamaica, I am using Jamaica as an example because they are the best now. United States has been doing it before and they are still doing it. We copied from the US, suddenly we lack from it. Because somebody somewhere embezzled the money. I just don’t know why they stopped it. I have been saying it for almost twenty years, I have been telling them to let us go back to school sports.

When I talk to Innocent Egbunike, Olapade Adenekan, Davidson Ezinwa, what we always talk about is that if Nigeria can only go back to school sports… Because they also were discovered through school sports. If we can go back to the grassroots, if we can go back to this because we have all the potential, we have all the talents we can think of. We have a lot of hidden Chidi Imohs, Egbunikes, Adenekans, Ezinwas, we have a lot of them. If we can discover them, to develop them and help them to go to the university. I don’t know about Nigerian universities, they don’t have provision for sports but in America, they do have provision for sports. Because they believe that sports with academics things will work out. If such discovered talents can come abroad to go to school, if ‎you are really that talented, if you are that good, you can combine both school and sports.

TALENT SEARCH IS KEY

I’ll really like for us as a nation to go back to that talent search. What I mean by talent search is we can go back school, from elementary schools to high schools to discover talented athletes, develop and monitor them. Out of 170‎ million Nigerians, come on now! You can’t tell me we cannot get raw talents that will rule the world and I believe so in my heart. We don’t need to go and hire athletes. We have everything in Nigeria.

JAMAICA WILL RULE IN NEXT 10 YEARS

In Jamaica, they are ‎very very interested in the high school sports. They are very very interested in developing athletes. That’s their goal. Not the already made. And I am sure they’ll rule track and field especially in sprints in the next ten years. Because the young ones coming up are equally fast or faster in their age when Usain Bolt was‎ in their age bracket. They are faster than him. Jamaica is going to rule the track and field in the next ten years if care is not taken because of the development of their young stars. We don’t ‎have school facilities in Nigeria, not that we don’t have the money, not that we don’t have the reasoning to build such facilities. But we know the Nigeria way of doing things. Since we don’t have these facilities, send them abroad, let them go to school because of the facilities to be able to develop them in a way so that they can be able to compete against the rest of the world.

WHY NIGERIA IS GOING DOWN

But in the case that we can afford the facilities, then we train them in Nigeria, the young ones, you have to develop them, you have to help them. Our goal is to get involved in the lives of the young ones, when they are coming up in high schools, we get involved with them. I am really sick and tired of watching Nigeria go down the drain. My involvement is to develop the athletes, the youth, to bring out another super star, another good athletes that’s what I want to get involved in.

WINNING OLYMPIC SILVER

With the squad we presented at the Olympics in Barcelona 1992, people like Davidson Ezinwa, Kayode Oluyemi (may his soul rest in peace), Olapade Adenekan, we just thought we could win anywhere in the world. We have 9.99, 2-9, 10 flat and 20 something in 200m talking about late Kayode. We were supposed to win it. With the baton exchange and everything, we were supposed to win it. That was our goal. Our goal was to win the gold medal but unfortunately what happened was that Adenekan pulled a muscle, so he wasn’t able to run fast as he could. That was why we could not win the gold but we thank God that we came second and won the silver medal.

WINNING INDOOR GOLD IN 1991

I think I was training for the Commonwealth Games but I wasn’t quite ready yet and I came to Nigeria but can’t remember what happened, I was unable to go to the Commonwealth Games. What I did was that I went back to Europe, I met my coach and he said I should go train for the Indoors championship and I said okay. He said for me to get ready for the 100m that I could take part in the Indoors first. I started training for the Indoors‎, it was hard to do but I won bronze medal at the Seville Indoor Championship. I think Linford Christie who won the Commonwealth Games gold medal was the one who beat me and I think I beat Ben Johnson. It was fun and I was really happy.

RELOCATING TO US

I remember when I got the scholarship in h‎igh school when I was in Nigeria, my dream in high school was that I was going to go to America, that I was going to be the best in the world in 100m. I have always had that at the back of my mind since I was a kid. The opportunity came and I went to the US. When my coach saw me, he was like, can this skinny boy run? I think I went to the US, it was during the winter time, I think it was in January, they were running their Indoor meets then. He was like, ‘you look‎ too frail, you cannot run, there I go again, I didn’t get a good athlete again’. But when I proved myself that I am as equally as good as anybody can be, because I remember that Yusuf Alli and Henry Amike went to my university, he called Yusuf and said ‘I got a good one’ and that he is going to develop me and he is going to be the best in the world. When they told me that really helped my confidence and that I can beat anybody in the world.

BEATING CARL LEWIS

I was not training just as a collegiate athlete but as an athlete that can beat the best in the world. Carl Lewis was the best in the world then. I was able to beat Carl Lewis before Ben Johnson came up from nowhere.

WINNING AFRICAN CHAMPIONSHIP

The 1985 meets in Rabat was before the World Cup which was in Canberra, Au‎stralia. That was the first time I broke the African record. It was the first time I realised I was really fast. That showed me that I could compete with anyone in the world. I think I came second in Canberra. And the NCAA showed me that I was equal to the task regardless of who you are. I am equally talented like them. That was the beginning of my successful career in athletics.

WINNING ALL AFRICA GAMES GOLD IN KENYA

I remember the President of Kenya then (Arap Moi), he was talking about Innocent, Chidi in a way. It was the climax of my athletics career and I really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, I was injured. But I tried to finish with one leg. It was funny. I couldn’t forget that day. I pulled my hamstring in the semi-final before I broke the world record (wind-assisted and declared illegal). My leg was hurting so bad. In the final, I wasn’t going to run, I remember Lee Evans came to me and said don’t scratch. You don’t know when Africa Games is going to be again. You had better go there with one leg and win it.

MKO ABIOLA AND ONE-LEG MAGIC

A day before, I met MKO Abiola (may his gentle soul rest in peace‎), he talked to me. I beat everybody with one leg real good and he was laughing after the race. That was what killed my World Championship race too. Because I got about three weeks or so before I could start running again. Two years after that I went back to Kenya to run, the President of Kenya came to the stadium to watch me run. The man loved athletics and Africans doing good on the track. It’s God that made all these possible for me. Without him I wouldn’t have been able to to do so.

BEATING THE WORLD’S BEST AT ROME ’87

In that meet, we have a lot of good athletes. ‎We had Ben Johnson in the 100m, we had two other Canadian athletes at that meet. Ben Johnson won the silver medal at the Olympics before that meets in Edmonton. Matter of fact, I was so scared. I was so nervous but I didn’t know how I managed to beat them all.

RETIREMENT

I think it was in 1993 that I decided to stop the track because I didn’t have the zeal to run as fast as I used to. It is because the body was no longer able to give me the best after so many injuries and knocks. I was not fast as I would love to be. So, I decided to retire from running.

APPEASE PAST HEROES TO RETURN TO GLORY

We were not recognised for what we achieved for the country. Everybody was‎ not thinking about us in America here, our colleagues are fixed up in high places. Their country set them up. They’ll set you up to make sure that you are very okay. But in Nigeria, as soon as you stop running, they don’t care about you anymore. In Nigeria, they’ll go and hire coaches abroad and leave their own that achieved a lot for them to come and coach our own athletes. Those that could not even tie our shoes when we were running. They are not even that good in coaching either. They’ll bring them to Nigeria to start coaching our athletes. Sometimes, when you think or look at that, you’ll want to cry.

NIGERIA’S PAST HEROES NOT RECOGNISED

Of course, it is. This is because they’ll not give them the chance to do the Track and Field. Some of my colleagues that are in Nigeria are struggling. Because the government is not helping them‎. It’s like ignoring those that went to war for you like soldier. They are not recognized. If they wasted their youths in achieving for Nigeria, giving glory to the country, if the only thing that makes Nigerians happy, the thing that makes Nigerians forget their tribes, that brings them together is sports. You know that.

IT’S CURSE TO NEGLECT PAST HEROES

I can’t help but say this, I think it is probably a curse in Nigeria to neglect those that achieved for the country. Maybe that is why all that is happening now is happening in our sports. Because we were neglected. If you honor something that is a gift to you, you’ll get more gifts. Nigeria should recognise their athletes. They should not bring politicians to come and run our sports.

BRINGING JOY TO NIGERIANS

It brings back the memory of when I am in a plane flying somewhere, you’ll see Igbo, Yoruba, Hausa, Calabar, Tiv and the likes coming to me saying we are watching you do Nigeria proud, that I should keep doing that. That I should keep bringing joy to Nigeria. And that’s what I want. To bring joy to people in Nigeria without thinking of where they are from. Those that were old enough then still remember us today.

NO SCHOLARSHIP FROM NIGERIA 

I didn’t get a dime from Nigeria as a scholar. Nothing! Nigeria gave me nothing! What they gave me was just allowance to feed and travel. I am not saying they owe me anything. They don’t owe me anything. According to President J.F Kennedy, ‘Think what you can do for your country and not what your country can do for you.” I did that for my country. I am still living, happy and alive. I am happy that I did all that for my country, Nigeria. I’ll do it again and again. Hahahaha! No, not from Nigeria. I love my country. Even when I was asked to changed my Nationality to another, I turned that down. I told them I cannot do that. I am from Nigeria and I’ll wear that green white green uniform. I am proud of it. Maybe some of my colleagues got something from Nigeria. I, Chidii Imoh, did not get anything from them. Nothing. So, my achievements is for my country.

NO REGRETS

We are happy. I got no regret for competing for Nigeria. That’s what I wanted. What my parents wanted. I may not have been rewarded with anything but still I believe the good Lord will reward me one day.

BADA’S DEATH SHOCKING

Oh! Oh! Very sad. That was a waste for that country. I had the same manager with him. May Sunday Bada’s soul rest in peace. He was a very good guy. Only few of Nigerians can achieve close to what he did. He was a 400M runner. Not a sprinter. Sprint was what we know. He achieved a lot in 400m. One of the guys‎ I was close to. He would have been one of the people that could have helped Nigeria athletics.

KIDS CAN BECOME GREAT HEROES

Yea, the only thing I’ll do is to come and do clinic. Fetch out some talented athletes, young ones, develop and monitor them. This I can do. Innocent can do. Adenekan can do it. Late Kayode can do it. ‎Late Sunday Bada can do it. If we can achieve it to the top of the world, anyone can do it. Charlton my hero, he came to Nigeria to compete in 1973, I was a little kid when I watched him on TV and I said I wanted to be like that. That’s when I said I must go on track.

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS

My wife takes me out on my birthday. Nothing about it. We just use the day to thank God. My birthday is 27th of August‎. Is Nigeria going to give me something on that day? Hahahahaha!

MISSOURI UNIVERSITY RECORD

Yea, because that place is so cold. Nobody likes to go to Missouri. I think there was a Nigerian boy that went there but he was unable to break it. Missouri is really cold. ‎Athletes will like to go to where it is warm and not a cold place. I still remember when my coach realised that I could run, he said I have ‘wills’ which is an American slang. He said relax and beat the Oklahoma. The Oklahoma state had been beating us for more than ten years in a row. When I came, the story changed. My coach was excited and happy. The record was broken and I kept winning the 100m, for four years in a row. Nobody had done that before in Missouri. I achieved that through God’s grace and hard work.

‘REAL’ PERSONAL BEST

My personal best was 9.92 seconds which I ran in Kenya in 1987. It was not recognized because they did not want Africa to break the world record then. The British guy running the show did not recognise it. He told me that I broke the world record but they’ll not give it to me. Till I die, my best was 9.92 seconds (it was adjudged wind-assisted, above the legal limit). I’ll never change it. It was a world record. Linford Christie told me about it too. The AFN never did anything to see this rectify. Most of them were more‎ concerned about getting their allowances and how much they were going to get. When I saw the British guy that ran the show at the All African Games in Kenya, I asked him what happened, he said no African country will be allowed to hold the world record.

WOULD HAVE BEEN SOCCER STAR

I was always playing soccer then. I love soccer. I was not even running. I think there was Inter house sports going on this day, after playing soccer that day, as I was walking home from school, late Okoroafor, Chibuzor were two classes ahead of me then. They called out to me to come and run that they were going to beat me. So, I went to run and I beat them all. The next day the game master came‎ to me and asked if I do run, I said no. That I play soccer from the inside left position. He encouraged me to start running. And that was how I started running when I was in class 3. My intention then was to play soccer to the highest national level‎. That was my dream. That was what I really wanted to do. I never knew I would become a runner.

BLESSING OKAGBARE CAN WIN OLYMPIC GOLD

She can. She can. With proper planning, training, she can win it. She’s good. But she got to work hard and must really go all out to win it.

USAIN BOLT’S RECORD

Of course, his record can be broken. There are lots of athletes coming up everyday. The Jamaicans can do it. Or the US athletes can do it. Usain Bolt record’s can be broken. But can’t say how soon but it can be broken.

DAD DISCOURAGED ME FROM ATHLETICS

My daddy wanted me to go to school and not run. When I told him I got a scholarship and he was like to where, I said to America he said no, not America, that they kill people there too much. The only person that encouraged me to travel was my mum. I guess because my daddy didn’t want to pay for my ticket that was why he said all that. Hahahahaha. He did anyway.