In her active days as an athlete specialising in 100 metres sprint, Endurance Ojokolo-Akpeki won eight gold medals for Nigeria at continental and inter-continental level, and competed at six editions of the World Athletics Championships, amongst many other competitions. However, one achievement which she greatly desired but which did not materialise was making the final of the 100 metres event at the Olympics.
The seven-time national champion had competed at the Athens 2004 Olympics where she reached the semis, and this motivated her to make a promise to coach an athlete that would compete in the final of the Olympics.
While making this pledge, Ojokolo-Akpeki, who went into coaching in 2010, two years after her last competition for Nigeria, knew it was going to take a lot of sacrifice, hard work and dedication to fulfil. However, she did not reckon that some of the sacrifices she would have to make to remain at the top of her game as an athletics coach in Nigeria would…
