The ‘Miracle’ schoolboy athlete who conquered Ben Johnson at Brisbane ‘82

United States (U.S.)-based Isiaka Fransome Adeyanju has an interest in the growth of Nigerian sports and many years after he hung up his spikes, he is still burning with that zeal. He belonged in the golden and nostalgic era of the nation’s athletics, when the country was a force to reckon with in Africa and the world at large. Adeyanju, who hails from Ikare Akoko in Ondo State, started school athletics at Salem A/C Primary School in the late 60s and later, Ansarudeen Grammar School, both in Ikare Akoko.

Though he picked interest in athletics during his elementary days at Salem, that interest blossomed the moment he gained admission into Ansarudeen Grammar School in the mid 70s. For over a decade, Miracle was an integral member of the Nigerian athletics team, featuring at various national, African and inter-continental competitions. The high point of his sports career was Brisbane ’82 Commonwealth Games, where he teamed up with Lawrence Adegbeingbe, Samson Oyeledun and Eseme Ikpoto to win the country’s only medal in athletics (a gold) in the men’s 4×100 metres race, setting a new record with 39.14 seconds. He beat the great Ben Johnson of Canada in that race. Before then, Adeyanju had won various medals for the Sunshine State (Ondo), including two gold and one silver at the Kaduna ’77 National Sports Festival. The schoolboy then featured in the intermediate level in the 100, 200 and 4×100 meters. Before his foray into the world of athletics, the young Adeyanju had ventured into the field of football, where he was nicknamed Miracle for his brilliance on the pitch.

Speaking with GOWON AKPODONOR from his base in Philadelphia, U.S. during the week, he expressed regrets over the dwindling fortune of the nation’s athletics. He was particularly pained by Team Nigeria’s woeful performance at the recently concluded London 2012 Olympics, where the contingent returned home with no medal. He also spoke of his readiness to assist in whatever capacity to revive the nation’s athletics, particularly in his native Ondo State which, according to him, has neglected the sports legacy of the erstwhile governor, late Sir Adekunle Ajasin.

HIS real name is Isiaka Fransome Adeyanju, but many athletics followers, friends and some family members in his native Ikare Akoko prefer to call him Miracle, a nickname he bagged from a teacher while featuring in a football match for his primary school in the late 1960s.

His athletics story actually began the moment he commenced his elementary education at Salem A/C Primary School, where he began his sports trade in primary one during an inter-house sports.

“I was very young when I started my athletics career,” he explained. “I was doing athletics and at the same time playing football for my primary school. In those early days, sports activities were part of my life. Then, it was a thing of joy competing with your mates in school and other schools.

“At that time, I never thought about the future or how far sports would take me. All I knew then was that sports was part of my physical education in school. It was when I got to Ansarudeen Grammar School in the early 1970s that I realised the importance of sports.”

But before he completed elementary education at Salem, the young Adeyanju had made a name for himself, especially in the athletics: “I was very good in the 100, 200 and 4×100 metres. I was also popular in football. I remember one event that happened during a football game in my primary school. I scored a goal in the last minute of the match, which gave us victory.

“The goal was so fantastic because I struck from an impossible angle to beat the goalkeeper. All the spectators were so amazed. One of my school teachers, Adagunodo, shouted from the crowd, ‘My miracle boy,’ and from that moment, everybody started calling me Miracle. Till this moment, I am more known as Miracle in my community.

“One of the best athletes in Ikare Akoko then was Abbas Janso Aduloju from St Thomas’. There were also the likes of Ojo Oblagata Adeshuyi and John Aiyesa, both from Salem. Then it was a big challenge among all of us. I remember that St Thomas’ was one of the main competitors against my school (Salem) in sports. Then it would present Janso in an attempt to defeat me, but I always defeated him anytime we met in the100, 200 and 4×100 metres.”

His arrival at Ansarudeen actually opened up his raw talent. Then, Ikare Akoko was already one of the leading communities as far as sports activities were concerned in Ondo State. Perhaps, one of the competitions that brought Adeyanju to national prominence was the 1977 edition of the National Sports Festival, which took place in Kaduna.

He was named in Ondo State’s contingent to the festival as an intermediate athlete, but the raw talent in him was brought to bear when the athletics event started at the Ahmadu Bello Stadium. Running bare-footed, the young Adeyanju was able to brush aside the challenges from other opponents to win gold medals in both 200 and 4×100 metres.

In the 100 metres event, he met a tougher opponent, Peter Okodogbe, who captured the gold for the then Bendel State, thereby denying Adeyanju the golden chance of clearing all three gold medals in his event. But his two gold and one silver medal made him an instant hero the moment he returned to Akure. From that moment, he became a regular member of the Nigerian athletics team, featuring in the 100, 200 and 4×100 metres.

Apart from his feat at Kaduna ’77, Adeyanju also made Ansarudeen proud when he featured in Owo divisional zonal competition, which was attended by such other top schools as Victory Grammar School, Ikare, and Ajuwa Grammar School, Oke Agbe, Akoko. He said: “In that competition, two people (Musa from Victory Grammar School) and Kalikaka from Ajuwa Grammar school) had boasted that they would stop me at all cost.

“But I floored the two of them to win the 100, 200 and 4×100 metres gold medals. I was able to achieve those records because sports was already in my blood and had become my daily living.”

Adeyanju could not make five credits at the end of his secondary education in Ansarudeen, so he continued his studies at the Divisional Teachers College in Ado Ekiti. Here, he continued with the combination of academics and sports activities. He added: “I represent my school at the teacher’s college game in Akure Stadium and was the anchor leg in the 4×100 metres team.

“In that race, the person that ran the third leg for us made a mistake while trying to hand over the baton to me. It dropped, but I was able to pick up the baton, beat all those in front of me and won the gold medal. It was one of my most memorable moments as a school athlete.”

He concluded his academics at the Teachers College in 1981 and was invited to Bauchi camp, where the Nigerian team was preparing for the Brisbane ’82 Commonwealth Games. He made the team and in what turned out to be one of Nigeria’s glorious moments in the Commonwealth Games, achieved on account of hard work and administrative competence, the quartet of Lawrence Adegbeingbe, Adeyanju, Samson Oyeledun and Eseme Ikpoto stunned the world in the men’s 4×100 metres race, winning gold in 39.14 seconds to set a record. It was the country’s only medal in athletics in the competition.

He recalled with nostalgia: “Nobody gave us the chance of winning gold medal in that race considering that we were competing against the best athletics nations in the world. But we did it in style and became instant heroes.

“Adegbeingbe ran the first leg and handed the baton to me, I ran the second leg, which was the most fearful because I had to compete against the great Ben Johnson of Canada. I beat Johnson to hand over the baton to Oyeledun, who handed it over to our anchorman, Eseme Ikpoto. It was the biggest excitement of my sports career. I got N10,000 from the Shehu Shagari government on arrival in Lagos.”

Adeyanju said further: “I remember that after we won gold medal in Brisbane, our coach, Ogunmakin (now late), an indigene of Ondo Town, made a statement. He pointed at me and said that we must not allow the spirit of sports to die in the state.

“Then, sports in Ondo was enriched by the governor, late Sir Adekunle Ajasin, because he introduced local government sports competitions to encourage the young athletes to develop their talents for the future. Late Sir Ajasin made so many people through sports and I am surprised by the study decline of sports in Ondo State and Nigeria in general.”

Adeyanju went on to represent Nigeria in the sprint and relay events of the African Athletics Championships in 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1988, and World Championships in Finland in 1983. In 1985, he represented Africa at the Canberra Athletics Championship in Australia and further made the Nigerian team to the Los Angeles ’84 Olympics, as well as Seoul ’88 Games in South Korea.

He bagged a scholarship in 1988 after being recognised as the most outstanding male athlete at the Florida Coke Classic relays at the University of Missouri, Columbia. He was also a champion at Wichita States University’s athletics competition, where he won gold in both 100 and 200 metres. Adeyanju also won gold at the NCAA Collegiate competition in the U.S., as well in the sprint events at the 1988 World University Games in Yugoslavia.

After watching the country’s participation at the recently concluded London 2012 Olympics, where Team Nigeria had its worst outing in recent years, an angry Adeyanju said: “We have to do something urgently to revive our sports because the situation is becoming so embarrassing to those of us who have the interest of Nigeria’s sports at heart.

“One urgent step the government and people must take is to revive inter-house sports competitions. I do travel home regularly, and from what I see, the inter-house sports of today is nothing to right home about. I want to say that the inter-house sports is the skeleton for talents’ foundation building and observation. If inter-house sports is fading away, then talents are fading away and will be lost.

“What I am saying in effect is that the decline in Nigerian sports can be curbed by reviving inter-house sports. The government has to encourage professionals to scout for talents. That means that the government back home must place the right people in the right place. In some other parts of the world, past athletes and coaches are mentors to upcoming athletes.

“Also, the government should do something about the National Sports Festival. I mean, the festival should be thrown open as the practice was in our youthful days. This idea of making the festival closed is indirectly killing our sports silently. Throwing the festival open will bring back the glamour.

“Ex-athletes would be perfect for the position of Sports Minister. I must commend some of our past leaders like Lateef Jakande for the encouragement they gave to athletes. The way athletes are treated in Nigeria today is discouraging. I have taken my time to study the situation and find out that Nigerian officials treat themselves better than the athletes.”

According to Adeyanju, “if you watch the Olympics very carefully, you will discover that most athletes leave their current residences to participate for their countries because they are treated well. But most Nigerians abroad will stay put in their foreign residences and compete against their countries because the way Nigeria officials treat their athletes is demeaning.

“Nigerian athletes, both past and present, derive no benefit from their country – both financially and socially. Nigeria is a big country, but greed and individualism on the part of officials have ruined the sports sector. In my view, all those top NSC officials that were part of that big disgrace in London Olympics should go. We need new touches, faces and talents to rebuild our sports. Our past athletes will be best to do it.”

In 2003, Adeyanju and other members of the Nigerian 4×100 metres relay team that won gold medal at the Brisbane ’82 Commonwealth Games were given a National Sports Merit award by the Federal Government at a ceremony in Abuja. Adeyanju added: “I cherish that award so much and it always encourages me to do more for the country.

“One other advise I have for Nigerians back home is to make sure that their children are given the best of education, no matter the circumstances they find themselves in. Education remains the most valuable achievement in life. It prepares you for whatever you want to be in life.

“Parents should encourage their children to take to sports in school, but they must not let their children lose focus on education as athletes. They can do both and achieve all. I was able to achieve as an Olympian and also obtain a degree in education.”