Abuja Velodrome used for religious activities, not cycling — Ukpeseraye

Nigerian cyclist, Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye, who recently competed in the Paris Olympics, has stated that Nigeria will continue to lag in cycling until sports administrators end their preference for renting out its velodrome for religious services.

Speaking at the end of the global sporting event, Ese warned that the sport itself would face extinction if the federation did not stop its practice of renting out its training facilities to religious bodies and other groups.

“We have a very beautiful track; our track is the best in Africa, but we don’t use it. They don’t permit us to use it.

“One of the most expensive sports venues in the world is in Nigeria, which has a beautiful wooden velodrome. But since it’s rented out for religious services and other activities for most of the year, bikers are not permitted to train there,” she told cyclingnews.com

Ese gained global attention after she disclosed on X that she was forced to borrow a bicycle from the German cycling team to participate in the 2024 Olympic Games.

Ukpeseraye, who was given short notice about her participation in the Keirin and Sprint repechage, thanked her German opponent, Bund Deutscher Radfahrer, who assisted the Nigerian cyclist with a bicycle to race on the tracks.

The sports ministry later confirmed that Ukpeseraye had only qualified for the Road Race and was prepared for that event in terms of training and equipment. The Ministry revealed that her participation in the two-track events, Keirin and individual sprint, was impromptu following the disqualification of an Egyptian track athlete.

Egyptian track cyclist Shahd Saeed was disqualified from participating in the Paris 2024 Olympics in July.

She competed in the Keirin and Sprint cycling events but couldn’t