Since Ajunwa jumped 7.12m at the 1996 Olympic Games, it had been nigh impossible to match, not to talk of beating it until Ese Brume broke the record with a massive 7.17m leap at a meet in the USA.
Chioma Ajunwa spoke to Premium Times recently and revealed how she she feels about her broken Olympics record.
PT: Talking about quality, it is on record that you won Nigeria’s first gold medal in the Long Jump. How does it feel to see another Nigerian, Ese Brume break the African record jump that landed you a gold medal at the Atlanta Olympics?
Ajunwa: I’m so happy and I feel great because it means we can do it once again. It simply means we are taking the right step in the right direction. My heart was burdened with Nigeria’s failure to break the record all the while because it says a lot about our slow progress in track and field sports. It really showed that we were not making progress despite the talents that abound in our country.
We don’t really prepare adequately for global events like the Olympics and World Championship and that explains why Nigeria dropped from its lofty position as one of Africa’s best athletics nations. I’m so happy that finally, my 25-year-old record has been broken.
We are supposed to smash every record in every two years and not just watch it hang there for decades just like Henry Amike’s 36 years Hurdles record; it is sad that no hurdler has smashed that record.
It means our athletes are not making any progress when we allow such records to stay on for that long, but I’m happy Brume has shown the world what we can do as a nation.
Our athletes are working hard but internal problems within sports administration have been the athletes’ biggest undoing.
I just pray that other Nigerian athletes can come up with another record-smashing performance at the next Olympics.
Girl power