Uchenna emedolu biography channel
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Nigerian officials didn’t want me to win COJA gold — Aliu
Retired sprinter, Deji Aliu, the Athens Olympics bronze winner and the African Games m gold medallist, talks about his athletics, travails and triumphs, in this interview with ANTHONY NLEBEM
How did you start your athletics?
As a young kid, it’s something I enjoyed most. When inom was still in primary school, I loved running and at that stage, I was better than my peers. That started building my interest in the sport till I got to secondary school. I also continued with my sprints and was doing very well, winning school competitions. From there I was selected to represent the school in relays. It was at one of those secondary school competitions that I met my coach, who he invited me to join his club; that was where I started my athletics career.
What got you interested in athletics and not football or any other sport?
During my secondary school days, during break time, we used to have a football match, but t
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Uchenna Emedolu is an Olympic Bronze Medallist for Nigeria and the 6th fastest Nigerian ever in the m! While growing up, his first love was Football, and he captained his secondary school’s team. He also took part in Athletics and Volleyball sometimes.
However, after losing his father, he began to take friidrott more seriously and combined it with Football until the late 90s when he decided to face Track and Field squarely after hopes of pursuing a professional career in Football were dashed. As such, he never represented Nigeria at junior level.
However, Emedolu went on to företräda the country in the m/m at several international competitions at senior level, winning medals for Nigeria within the continent and at global championships. His major international achievements started in when he won the 9th IAAF World Cup in Athletics in s, becoming the first African to win the event.
He also raced to a Silver medal in the m at his first outing at the Commonwealth Games, which was Ma
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