Pre- Olympics seminar will bring out the best in ‘Team Nigeria’ athletes – Ejike

Paralympic champion Lucy Ejike says that the just concluded pre- Olympic seminar organised by Newstap Communication is necessary to enable ‘Team Nigeria’ athletes put up good performance at both the Paris 2024 Olympics and Paralympic Games.

Newstap Communications, publishers of leading online platform, newstap.com.ng last Tuesday in collaboration with the National Institute For Sports (NIS) organised a one day seminar to sensitize Olympic bound Nigerian athletes on what it takes to have a podium finish at the biggest sporting event in the world.

During the seminar, carefully selected resource persons in their well researched papers, gave useful advise to the athletes on what they’re expected to do at the Games which will kick off this weekend in Paris.

Ejike who’s going to the Paralympic Games for a record seventh time, told newstap.com.ng in an interview that although she had been at the Games a couple of times, she and her colleagues have learnt new things that will help then in their quest to win medals at the Games.

” I have been in the national team for about 24 years now; out of which, I have been to six Paralympic Games but I must confess to you that I’ve learnt a lot of things from this seminar and kudos must go to Newstap Communication for coming up with this wonderful initiative”, she stated.

The multiple Paralympic champion further stated that most times ignorance of new rules and type of diet or nutrition to be taken often lead to athletes performing poorly at international competitions; saying that the seminar came at the right time just as she advocated having such seminars regularly to keep athletes abreast of what it’s expected of them at the world stage.

” Like I said earlier, my 24 years in the national team has been very eventful because starting from Sydney 2000 to Tokyo 2012, I have been representing the country and by the Grace of God, I have won many medals.
” My experience is that most times, athletes and even coaches are ignorant of the type of diet to take and new rules that keep changing from time to time and this has affected their performance at the global level.
” Most times, when you get to the Olympic village, there are a lot of soft drinks and juice to take and if one is not careful, it might affect his or her nutrition, weight and so many other things. So, we athletes need to be careful.
” Kudos must go to the management and staff of Newstap Communication for coming up with this wonderful initiative especially in an Olympic month and I appeal to all Nigerians and the corporate world to support them in making this seminar a regular one”, concluded the athlete who have won gold and silver medals for the country at both the Olympics, World championship and the Commonwealth Games respectively.