By: Bolaji Oyegunle, London
The longest reigning African queen of the tracks, Nigeria’s Mary Onyali-Omagbemi will be in London this weekend to grace the Launch event of Africa Sport in Diaspora.
Onyali, well known to have won numerous gold medals in All-Africa Games 100 and 200m events, spanning from 1991 through till 2003, is the current Special Assistant to the Director General of Nigeria’s National Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye.
Onyali will accompany Elegbeleye, who is billed to give a keynote address at the event, and lead a workshop group.
A bronze medalist in the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games, Onyali will bring her wealth of experience and engage with the youths in diaspora, aiming to share with them, her experiences as an athlete, and giving words of inspiration.
Also billed to headline the event is the appearance of Team GB athlete Abi Oyepitan. Oyepitan is of Nigerian origin, and competed at the highest level with the Great British team, but has always been keen to identify with her roots.
Oyepitan is an ASID ambassador and will also be on hand to share with the attending youngsters, her experiences as a GB athlete and shed light on the choices she’s made.
Incidentally, Onyali and Oyepitan both competed in the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and it will be their first reunion in many years. “We raced together in Athens, which I think was her last year in competitive athletics, and it will be great to see her again”, Oyepitan said.
ASID is a charitable organization set up to connect youth in the Diaspora who have African roots with their countries of origin, using sport.
In a brief statement, ASID opined “It has been a great week for African athletics so far. Both sides of the spectrum of the sport have been showcased.
“We have seen performances to be proud of by Blessing Okagbare and Tirunesh Dibaba, as well as a Diasporan African Mo Farah; and the ASID Launch bringing together great ambassadors of the sport like Mary and Abi cannot be any more befitting of the week we have had so far.
“We believe their presence and the support of many others who could not be there present will certainly inspire our youngsters who will be in attendance”.
