Chika Chukwumerije

By Kunle Adewale

Captain of Team Nigeria to the last Olympic Games in London, Chika Chukwumerije  is  yet to decide if he would want to be at the next edition slated for Rio, Brazil, in 2016 as he is still reflecting on what took place at the London edition.

“I still have to evaluate whether I still have the capacity to go on. If I cannot show the same kind of commitment I showed in London and the other Games then I'll bow out," stressed the Beijing bronze medallist.

Speaking in Lagos Tuesday, Chukwumerije however admitted that there were many upcoming athletes that are capable of taking over from him in the nearest future.

In spite of not returning home with a medal from London 2012 Chukwumerije, admitted that he was in a better frame of mind than when he won a bronze medal at the Beijing Olympics.

"Ahead of the London Olympics I had the best of training and I was more composed than I was at the Beijing Games. I did all I had to before the last Games but things just didn’t work my way," he said.

Chukwumerije however refused to pass on excuses for his inability to return with a medal from the last Olympics despite also admitting that he has not fully recovered from the injury he sustained during the qualification to the London Games.

According to the Mechanical Engineer, he suffered two fractures on his foot during the Cairo qualifying championship and was not fully recovered before he took on his Cuban opponent, Robelis Despagne at the London Games.

"The Cuban I lost to was taller, younger and very good but I had not fully recovered from the surgeries I had before the London Games," the Olympian said.