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Wrestling against odds, Igali made his mark on mats

Published by Guardian on Fri, 09 Mar 2012


If there are Nigerian athletes that have enjoyed smooth and steady rise from absolute obscurity to international fame, Daniel Igali is one.From the pristine Eniwari community in Bayelsa State, he joined peers to jump, run, wrestle and swim as a matter of routine as dictated by the school authorities. And with inter-school sports competitions the platform to test his strength in these sports, inner cravings saw him elevate his act to another level in a community where vessels of deprivations and under-development are never in short supply.Bent on extricating himself from extreme poverty and living life to the fullest, he stuck to wrestling, which provided him a lifeline. Before wrestling his way to the top, Igali gradually amassed laurels locally and ultimately went international. Today, Igali, who captained Nigeria's wrestling team to Canada 1994 Commonwealth Games, remains a four-time national champion in both Greco Roman and Freestyle (1990-94) and two-time African champion (1993/94). After the Commonwealth Games he remained in the country. Just before he was due to return to Nigeria, he realised that Canada could offer him the athletic training and educational opportunities he craved. Now a Criminology graduate of the School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University, Canada, Igali has won 116 consecutive wrestling matches at the school from 1997 to 1999, placed fourth at the 1998 World Championships, finished second at the 1998 World Cup and won bronze at the 1999 Pan-American Games.At the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Australia, Igali won a gold medal in the men's 69 kg freestyle wrestling. With modest efforts in place to help his compatriots unlock their potentials, the member representing Southern Ijaw Constituency 3 in the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, who will be inducted as the second Canadian ever into the global Olympic Wrestling Hall of Fame at the London Olympics on August 3, toldENO-ABASI SUNDAY that unless there is a radical change in the country's sports policies, potential world champions resident in Nigeria would never manifest.FOR an athlete involved in combat sport, giving up easily is a great disincentive, just as a resilient spirit and life of great stoicism constitute valuable innate tools of the trade.These and many more attributes are what Nigeria-born Canadian Olympic champion, Daniel Igali, possesses in abundance. And it is these qualities that have seen him successfully wrestle down poverty, lack of education and sundry social ills that have held captive the youths of the oil-rich Niger Delta region for years.Having discovered that he had a knack for sports in his early teens, the two-time Canadian Athlete of the Year nurtured his passion and never took defeat as an option. Even when his mother viewed sports generally as a venture for never-do-wells, he refused to be swayed but drew immense strength from his father, who 'was very supportive.' But as the Olympic gold medallist and world champion recalled, 'when I started excelling in wrestling, my mother's posture also changed for the better.'The seven-time Canadian champion (1997-2003) did not just jump into wrestling and stay there till he attained world acclaim. He also took part in track and field and swimming. When his love for swimming grew deeper, he settled down with it. He said: 'I swam, ran 100 and 200 metres races, did long jump, high jump and above all, wrestled. I was really great in 100 metres sprints and equally good at wrestling, high jump and long jump. At some point, I was the school champion in some of them.'Done with his primary education at St. John's Primary School, Eniwari, he proceeded to Community Secondary School, Eniwari, both in Southern Ijaw Local Council Area of Bayelsa State, for his secondary education. It was here his sporting fantasies began to crystallize through the annual inter-house sports competitions, even though sports in his alma mater was not that organised then.'I started competing in the inter-house sports in 1986, continued in 1987 to 1989. I competed as a junior in both 1986 and 1987, and as a junior and an intermediate in 1988 and 1989,' he said. 'Apart from soccer, which was semi- organised, we did not have any organised kind of sports tournaments apart from the yearly inter-house sports competitions, which we participated in. I took part in about six inter-house sports competitions throughout my secondary school ' and won my fair share of trophies.Like other athletes striving to make names for themselves, stiff challenge from fellow sportsmen/women was aplenty. Igali faced a host of them but did not shirk. One of such was in his secondary school: 'I had a couple of friends who challenged me seriously in wrestling, 100 metres sprint and high jump. I later found out, though, that they were a year, and some two years, older than I was at the time.'I remember the inter-house sports competition of 1987 and 1988 quite vividly. In 1987, I had lost the 100 metres race to Corbon Ezekiel, who had been one of my stiff opponents. But the following year, I was able to emerge victorious. To date, winning the 100 metres in 1988 remains my best moment because I had previously lost in 1986 and 1987.'Still in 1988, Igali recorded what also ended up his worst outing in school sports. He revealed: 'My worst moment in school sports was missing a penalty in the football semi-finals of our inter-house sports in 1988 and eventually losing the match and the tournament.'For the acclaimed wrestler, the game changer can be said to be a wrestling contest, where he was spotted by eagle-eyed Nicholas Egbete, now late. Tracing how he was discovered in the sport that eventually brought him world acclaim, he said: 'It was also after a wrestling contest in 1988 that I was discovered by the Late Nicholas Egbete. I was thereafter brought to Yenagoa to take part in an intra-local government wrestling competition. At this event, Jackson Bidei spotted me and I was eventually taken to Port Harcourt for concentrated coaching.'Despite showing so much promise, Igali, who was groomed by Rivers State, for some strange reason, was deemed too young and not so good to represent the state at a national championship held in Makurdi, Benue State, in 1990. According to him, 'because of that,a decision was made for me to only observe the championship and learn from it.'Somehow, though, a counter decision was made that it would be better for me to actually participate and get the hands-on experience. I therefore was loaned to Borno State. Curiously, I ended up winning the national championship and taking home the Nigerian title in Greco Roman 62kg that year.'Needless to say that this opened the floodgate of honours, awards and titles that accrued to Igali in droves as within a decade, he moved from being an African wrestling champion to the first Canadian male to become a Wrestling World Freestyle champion, and Sydney 2000 Olympics wrestling gold medallist.After the Sydney Games,the Commonwealth Games champion continued to advance steadily in his sport, competing in numerous championships both in Canada and internationally, where he put to test his immense physical and intellectual attributes. Looking back at his years of participation in sports, the former world champion, who also has in his kitty two Outstanding Wrestler awards from Canada (1997-1999) said: 'I have been so positively impacted by my participation in sports. It has broadened my horizon from a young age.'In my teens, because of my participation in sports, my friends were scattered all over the state and eventually throughout the country. I did not have to do the National Youth Service to appreciate the diverse and rich cultures of Nigeria and its people because I started interacting with Nigerians from different religious backgrounds and ethnicities, belief systems and orientations from a young age.'He added: 'Also, because of the insistence of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and other anti-doping organisations on clean sports participation and the attendant enlightenment that goes along with it, I grew up knowing the adverse effects of drugs and the harm involved in self-medication, as a young man.'When the Federal Government conferred Igali with a national honour alongside sporting greats like Kanu Nwankwo and Chioma Ajunwa, a number of persons questioned his qualification for such honour considering that he had dumped Nigeria to pick up Canadian citizenship and went ahead to represent the American country at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia.The truth, however, is that the Nigerian multiple national champion did the needful in his bid to represent the countrybut was treated with ignominy by the powers that be. He disclosed: 'I decided to represent Canada in 1998 after I had made three efforts to represent Nigeria on three occasions. These were in 1996, 1997 and 1998. I was rebuffed on all three occasions. My university in Canada even insisted on paying my transport fare down to Nigeria for the trials, but I received deaf ears.'Asked if he would attribute his stellar career and attainments as world and Olympic champion as a consequence of his decision to represent Canada, he elected to wa philosophical, saying: 'I am one who firmly believes that God pre-ordains one to become whatever he or she would ultimately become in life. To that extent, I would say God might have devised a way to get me to the top of my sport even if I had competed for Nigeria during the years that I was in the Canadian national team.'However, when looking at the reality of sports administration and participation in Nigeria, I would say it would have been next to impossible for me to have attained the status of world and Olympic champion in wrestling if these same sports policies prevailed in the late 1990s and early 2000s. I say so because I saw so many athletes in the Nigerian national team in the 1990s with enormous potentials, who never fulfilled their destinies on the mats. I also weep secretly some times when I see a couple of young athletes currently in my team, knowing that they may never achieve their true potentials because of the lack of support from the sports system in Nigeria. It is quite sad!'But, does being a world and Olympic champion confer on Igali any recognition or privilege that younger athletes should strive to acquire' He affirmed: 'In advanced climes, not just Canada, world and Olympic athletes are automatic role models, heroes and celebrities. With that comes a lot of responsibilities. One is required to live a near honourable lifestyle.'As an Olympic champion, I am in a vantage position to recommend athletes to universities in the United States and Canada for full and partial scholarships. But my one predicament has been the lack of interest in education from my wrestlers. However, I am hopeful that the new crop of wrestlers in the national team will benefit from some of these opportunities.'On his take at the pitiable state of school sports in the country, the three National Association of Inter-Collegiate Athletics (NAIA) titles holder said: 'I believe the major cause of the decline we see in this area is the steady erosion of the school curriculum, the change in the school system and the fact that there are no provisions for sports school buildings let alone sports facilities.'Gone are the days school sports participation elicited so much passion and commitment from clan heads, principals, teachers and students alike. Today, one can hardly see any school with any measure of sports facilities. When I was in high school, doing sports was compulsory. For six hours every week, between 4-6p.m on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, it was compulsory to participate in sports. We also had jogging sessions from 6-6:30a.m three days a week. I wonder what has happened to those policies.'I reckon we need to return to making school sports compulsory. We need to make a deliberate policy of providing sporting facilities and equipment in secondary and primary schools. We also need to ensure that most of the Olympic sports we feature in regularly are included in the NUGA Games. That a sport like wrestling is not part of the NUGA Games is baffling.A strong believer in the power of good education, the master's degree in Criminology holder established the non-profit Daniel Igali Foundation, dedicated to providing youth with scholastic, athletic and personal development opportunities. For the two-time Canadian Athlete of the Year (1999, 2000) award winner, honours and awards come in equal measure. Some of these include Lou Marsh Athlete of the Year (2000), which includes both professional and amateur athletes.He was inducted into the National Association of Inter-Collegiate Athletes (NAIA) Hall of Fame (2001), British Columbia Hall of Fame (2001), Simon Fraser University Wrestling Hall of Fame (2002) and Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (2007).
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