Nigeria’s iconic sprinter, Mary Onyali, while recounting her days as Africa’s best athlete and responding to a question that seeks how she feels being the overall gold medals record holder in the African Games, has stated that, she was only enjoying herself as a young sprinter while winning gold medals for Nigeria.

Onyali was speaking in a recent interview where she highlighted her joy and what the Athletics Federation Of Nigeria (AFN) should consider going forward based on the results of the 2023 African Games held in Accra, Ghana, last month.

When asked about how she feels being the most decorated athlete in the Africa Games, Mary said, “I never kept counting, it was fun, I was young, stupid and fearless (you can put it that way), I was just having a good time.”

“Being in the midst of my country men and women and the rest of African nations, it was just a thing of joy,” Mary added.

The Track And Field Is My Office

The Nigerian track and field legend also stated that being an athlete is her calling, what she’s passionate about and according to her that’s her office where she would do everything to succeed.

In her words, “This is what I love to do, I call the track and field facilities my oval office. So, whenever I get in there, I will feel like, I am in my office, and I am in charge.”

Speaking about her observations at the 13th African Games in Accra, Mary said she’s happy seeing home-based athletes competing for Nigeria and she urged the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) to give the home-based athletes more opportunities to compete at such games instead of bringing in foreign-based athletes.

She said, “My joy seeing Nigeria compete at the African Games this year is the fact that home-based athletes were given the opportunity to compete and have finally arrived. They have been given the opportunity to make an impact, to show their talents, and the coaches as well, kudos to them. Both the coaches and the athletes, they’ve done extremely well.

“And I also want to appreciate the US-Based athletes, their Schools and officials for not releasing them, because they [Foreign-based athletes] would have been the one representing us in Ghana. A lot of the first-timers that came here would never forget this opportunity in a while. They will always remember that they were able to showcase their talents.”

She concluded by asking coaches, AFN and all concerned people in the team Nigeria to always give the home-based chance.