Samuel Osadolor, a decathlon bronze medallist at the 2018 Confederation of African Athletics Championships in Asaba, says he loves decathlon because of the challenges.
The University of Benin graduate told the News Agency of Nigeria on Wednesday in Lagos that its thrills and suspense endeared him to decathlon, adding that it made him to be calculative.
Osadolor said: “Decathlon is a challenging event and I love challenges, the fact is that you have no idea who will win and what will happen next is thrilling and exciting.
“This gives me a drive that I am doing something that requires my all in calculations and strategies, it somewhat keeps my brain working for the two days of the event.
“I just love it.”
He added that he hoped that the event would receive more recognition with his recent achievement.
He said: “It is not an easy event and not for lazy athletes too, I am not saying athletes are lazy that’s why they run away from decathlon but it’s a crazy thing to do.
“You will need at least three coaches to take you in the sprints, jumps, and throws which are not easy to find or get; but if you are blessed that you have an ex-decathlete as a coach.
“The training is where the work is done and that’s where most athletes run away from the event. It has long sessions of training, sometimes you go in the morning to train and get back home late in the afternoon.
“The competition itself is hectic though you tend to adapt and learn as you compete. Our country too is part of the problem because it’s just recently it showed interest in decathlon.
“If not, it was dying along the line, but hopefully this achievement will help them to see we have world standard athletes here.”
On winning a medal at his first outing for the country, he said : “I feel good and content with winning a medal for the country but its still a long journey to fulfilling my dreams”.
The bronze medallist said he was happy to have embraced athletics, saying that his love for decathlon would not wane.
“Decathlon wasn’t my first love per say, but my current love, it all started when I was in secondary school, I did mostly field events like long jump, throws and was good in the sprints too.
“When I got to UNIBEN, I didn’t see anything to do, so, I switched to my second love basketball but as time went on I discovered an athletics team in the school.
“So, I sidelined basketball and moved to athletics, that was when I discovered my true love, the 110m hurdles, as time passed by I came across decathlon and decided to give it a go.”