One of Nigeria’s most distinguished athletics icon Armelia Edet turns 80 today and the track and field community are having a feast.
Lots of activities have been lined up to mark the day for coach Armelia Edet who is still agile and mobile like a 40 years old lady and still officiates in athletics events.
Athletes, coaches, technical officials and journalist will gather by 10.00am Wednesday at the Sportshaq at 2 Ademu Orisa Street off Gbajumo Crescent, Surulere Lagos to sing joyful songs to the grandma of Nigeria athletics.
“We are happy to have someone like coach Armelia Edet around us all through the years.
“And we have arranged this celebration as a mark of honour for her contributions and leadership in track and field,” said Akin Folarin a long standing technical official.
Armelia Edet during her days was hurdler, she made her mark
at the1967 Nigeria/ Ghana Sports Festival, Accra, Ghana, where she won a bronze. In 1970 she represented Nigeria at Nigeria to the Commonwealth Games, Edinburgh, Scotland. She won a bronze at Africa v USA meet 1971 in North Carolina, USA. In 1972 she was at the Olympic Games, Munich, Germany. In 1973 she won silver, at the 2nd African Games, held in Lagos, Nigeria. She started out as a coach in 1982 and she lead the Nigerian teams to many victories in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, 1984, Barcelona,Spain in 1992, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1996 and Sydney, Australia, 2000. In the Commonwealth Games. , she also lead the victorious team in Auckland , New Zealand 1990 and Melbourne, Australia, 2006. just as she did same at the All African Games, Abuja, 200 and Algiers, Algeria, 2007. She also lead our team to successful outings at the IAAF World Championships.
She has received many awards including the Coach of the Year by the Confederation of African Athletics2005 in Mauritius and IAAF Veterans Pin in 1999.
She retired as Athletics Federation of Nigeria head coach in 2006 but still active in athletics events.
