• Says, I wasn’t happy it took 40 years to break my record

By Emma Jemegah

Henry Amike is one of Nigeria’s legendary athletes with well documented exploits in track and field events.

Born in 1961, he is one of Nigeria’s greatest hurdlers, and this could be seen in the Nigerian athletics record book.

The record of his all-time best performance of 48.50 seconds, which he recorded in 1987 in Rome, Italy was recently broken by Nathaniel Ezekiel in Tokyo.

In this interview with Sunday Sun, he goes down memory lane to recount his exploits at continental and global competitions.

Recently Nathaniel Ezekiel broke your record. How do you feel about the new record?

I am overwhelmed by his performance. Records are meant to be broken anyway. My record lasted too long before being broken. I want to say congratulations to the young lad for doing justice to it.

What special qualities have you noticed in the guy as an athlete?

He is a very resilient person, very aggressive athlete, and very ambitious. In the last one or two years, he has continually improved on his performance.

That means he has what it takes talent-wise, and he has been working very hard to become one of the best in the world.

Between now and the next Olympics, do you know if he can achieve a gold medal?

I don’t know about a gold medal, but from his performances, he is among the best five in the world, and once in that bracket, anything can happen.

Any one of them can win the gold medal. It was unfortunate that he missed the podium in Tokyo this year, and that will give him the zeal to train harder and be more focused towards the Olympics, possibly doing what Nigeria expects of him.

What is the difference between your time and now?

As far as athletics is concerned, our period had more athletes in the top ten in the world. We had more podium athletes, more determined to do their best for the country.

We expected that after we left the scene, people would take over immediately, but it has taken almost 40 years before things like this are coming up. We are not happy with what we have seen in Nigerian track and field.

Looking at the composition of the membership of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, one would observe that politicians are in charge now. What is your view on this?

Nigeria is political now. Being a politician, as long as you have technical people around you, you can do well. The AFN today has five or six former athletes on the board, and they should be able to advise the president on the best way forward, especially now that Yusuf Ali is working with the National Sports Commission. AFN should have a better advantage to bring out the best in the athletes in welfare, training, and competition.

You retired some 35 years ago. What do you do now for a living?

I have been in sports administration, doing a lot of things with different sports. Right now, I’m engaged at the National Assembly.

Which means you are now a politician?

Yes.

As an advisor?

Yes, to the Speaker.

Now that you are at home and not travelling as before, is your family enjoying your presence?

It depends on what you mean by enjoying my presence. As long as I enjoy what I do and they appreciate what I do, yes. I’m closer to them now than when I was an athlete.

Back then I was always gone, but now I’m closer. My kids are grown and finished university, so they are on their own. I’m freer now.

Do you have particular athletes you are grooming?

I have not gone into coaching, but I have encouraged many people to participate and do well in athletics.

Is there any particular place you enjoyed while active?

I used to train more in Italy. I also enjoyed my stay in France, especially Paris. When we went there for competitions, we had a great time.

Who was your greatest competitor?

I competed with Edwin Moses and Danny Harris from the US, and Harold Schmidt from West Germany. They were always among the best in the world then.

Any regrets representing Nigeria?

(Laughs) That’s a very good question. I love my country. I enjoyed competing for Nigeria. I thank God for being a Nigerian. I have no regrets.

What did you cherish most as an international athlete?

The opportunity to travel all over the world. I have been to 64 countries and almost all the cities in Nigeria. I enjoyed travelling a lot, and I still travel once in a while.

And you didn’t find any woman in all those countries?

I was married to an American, but we divorced before I came back.

So none of your children is into sports?

No. But when they were in school they ran for their schools, but not professionally.

Is it because of what happened to their father?

I did not discourage them. I let them choose their own path, and they are doing very well in their fields.

How do you see athletics in Nigeria going forward?

I encourage the leadership of the AFN and the National Sports Commission to look at athletics as one of Nigeria’s greatest sports. Athletics has brought many laurels and fame to Nigeria. A lot of focus should be put into it, the same way football is treated. With that, performances can improve and athletes can bring out their best.