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 becaus… - Mariam Usman

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.

Olympic gold medal doesn’t come cheap. It is painful that one has to suffer and when competition comes they expect you to win a medal with your blood. The people you have to compete with had everything they needed: training grants, competitions and are exposed to the most modern equipment. I had nothing. You don’t expect such people who have invested so much to lose to one who don’t even train adequately.

We cannot keep doing the same thing and expect a different result. If our sports authorities want Nigerian athletes to begin to win like the rest athletes from around the world, we must begin to do things differently to get the type of results others are getting.