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They (Government of Nigeria) must catch the athletes when they are young. We started very young. They must encourage the athletes with good incentives to be able to compete.

— Modupe Oshikoya

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More quotes by Modupe Oshikoya

I didn’t get much encouragement from home at all because they didn’t know too much about sports. My mum wasn’t that educated enough to know what sports is all about.

My mum was a strong woman but she didn’t really understand what the sport is all about. She was there for me whenever she can and whatever she could do for me, she tried her best.

Running and jumping came to me naturally. It was while I took to athletics which was known as track and field then. I took part in basketball, badminton, table tennis, and a few other sports when I was growing up but it was athletics that I stuck to.

I will tell the athletes to work hard and not to let sports get into their heads. They must complement their endowed talents with education. It gives them something good to hold on to after their retirement. Also as an athlete, you need to be disciplined and make up your mind on what you want. You must determine what you want to do with your life.

The Commonwealth Games gold medal in 1974 in New Zealand in the long jump event was special. I was close to winning the gold in the hurdles too but I tripped towards it and ended up with a bronze medal.

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Attribution

Quote text and notes from Wikiquote: Modupe Oshikoya (page history), available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Source quality and labels are our own summary of what Wikiquote records.