I feel really excited about winning. I've had my mind on gold ever since the very beginning. I believed I would get it and I did. - Mariam Usman

It is painful to come to the Olympics and see people who are your contemporaries perform better than you; not because you lack the ability but because you were not prepared like them.

It hurts a lot when you know that you have the capacity to do better but because certain things are not right in our preparations for the Games, one then fails to meet set target. I don’t want to sound as if I am giving excuses for my inability to make the podium. What I am saying is that we should not go to the next Games in four years time in Tokyo, Japan and also be in this same state of poor outing. I am appealing to whoever will be in-charge of Nigeria sports not allow things again turn lout like this. There should be better preparations, more encouragement for Nigerian athletes. Those other athletes (from other countries) that we competed against had everything as in everything to succeed. It just does not make sense to expect good result from Nigerian athletes who are competing with those who have been preparing in the last three years. We Nigerian athletes are just competing with tears and blood. It is through sheer personal determination to succeed that is driving Nigerian athletes. It just does not add up like that.

I have won a couple of medals in several competitions but I yearn for an Olympic medal. It is the ultimate reward an athlete can get to show that one got to the peak of sport. And so it really hurts when one cannot get to the podium to receive an Olympic medal. Hurts real good.