Coach laments substandard weightlifting gyms
Kogi State Weightlifting Association (KSWA) head coach, Christopher Nwadei has stated that most Nigerian athletes failed to excel in international competitions because they trained with substandard facilities at home. Nwadei argued that lack of standard facilities usually affects the improvement of athletes’ skills and also demoralises them. [caption id="attachment_128184" align="alignnone" width="400"] Mariam Usman of Nigeria competes in the women's +75kg group A weightlifting event at the Beijing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics Gymnasium at the Olympic Games in Beijing, China.[/caption] He said that Nigerian athletes’ inability to win medals in international competitions was also due to stage fright, because the gymnasiums abroad, with modern facilities, were enough to intimidate them. “Our athletes are good, even better than their foreign counterparts, but the truth is that foreign athletes are groomed with up-to-date facilities, while...