‘I’m Here for a Purpose’: Okezie Ready to End Nigeria’s 20-Year Wait for African Senior Athletics Championships 200m Gold
Despite the daunting task and weight of expectations, Chidi Okezie remains unfazed as he prepares for Sunday’s 200m final on the final day of the 24th African Senior Athletics Championships.
Speaking to AFN media ahead of the 200m final, the reigning African Games 400m champion said his motivation comes from the standard he sets for himself and his belief that his journey is guided by a greater purpose.
‘I’m here for a purpose, to give my best and to make sure my races are something everybody wants to watch,’ Okezie said. ‘What keeps me going is the expectation I have of myself, knowing that God has a purpose for me. It’s all coming together.’
That sense of purpose will be tested as Okezie sets his sights on rewriting a personal unwanted record by Nigeria, a 20-year drought in the men’s 200m at the African Athletics Championships.
No Nigerian man has won the title since Uchenna Emedolu’s triumph in Mauritius in 2006, when he clocked 20.61 seconds.
Okezie, who ran 20.97 to qualify for the final, does not rank among the podium favourites, but he has made a habit of defying expectations.
His stunning victory in the 400m at the 2024 African Games in Accra remains fresh in memory, a race where he upset Commonwealth Games and 2022 African Championships champion Muzala Samukonga of Zambia, who later claimed bronze at the Paris Olympics that same year.
On Sunday, the final day of the competition, Okezie will line up against a formidable field: Ghana’s homeboy Joseph Paul Amoah, who clocked 20.79 in the semifinals; Côte d’Ivoire’s Cheickna Traore, who ran 20.47 and boasts a season’s best of 20.14; and Botswana’s Phaezel Selepe, the second fastest African over the distance in 2026 at 20.08 and who won his semifinal in 20.45, the fastest time of the round.
