The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has released entry standard for athletes seeking to represent Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
The AFN also revealed monetary incentives for athletes that achieve the federation’s entry standard, the highest being $50,000 for any [link id=”128″ tax=”post_tag” text=”Team Nigeria”] track and field athlete that wins a gold medal in Rio.
According to a statement signed by the federation’s Head of Communication and Media, Olukayode Thomas, athletes that intend to compete in the men and women 100m must run 10.09 secs and 11.10 secs.
For the 200m, the men must run 20.20 secs and the women 22.50 secs. In the 400m, the entry standard is 45.20 secs for men and 50.90 secs for women.
For athletes intending to compete in the men’s 800m, the standard is 1.45.30 secs and 2.00.00 secs for women; men 110 hurdles standard is 13.35 secs and women 100m hurdles is 12.85 secs.
Intending athletes in the men and women 400m hurdles must run 48.95 secs and 54.93 secs respectively, while the men’s high jump standard is 2.31 metres and women 1.98 metres.
For the long jump, it’s 8.20 metres for men and 6.90 metres for women, and for the triple jump, the standard is 17.25 metres for the men and 14.60 metres for the women while the standard is 5.70 metres for men and 4.60 metres for women in the Pole vault.
Men and women shot put throwers must achieve 20.60 metres and 18.50 metres, while the standard for discus throw is 66.00 metres for men and 65.15 metres for women.
79.00 metres is the standard for men hammer and 72.20 metres for women while javelin throwers must achieve 83.00 metres for men and 65.10 metres for the women.
The qualifying standard for the decathlon is 8,200 points while the heptathlon is 6,300 points.
To qualify for the relays. the men and women 4x100m must achieve 38.50 secs and 42.00 secs respectively while the 4x400m teams must achieve
3:00.00 (men) and 3:28.00 (women).
Thomas also stated that the standard must be achieved between 1 January 2016 and 30 June 2016.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria will pay athletes that meet these standards $2,000. Athletes that made the finals in Rio will get $2,500, bronze medallist $10,000, silver medallist $30,000 and gold medallist $50,000.
Meet The Authors
Mr Eludini is a Nigerian-based journalist and news researcher with a passion for athletics and football. Tunde is a staff reporter for Premium Times newspaper, and also a regular contributor to AthleticsAfrica.
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