Fourteen-year-old sets world record at National Youth Games

What appears a major achievement for Nigeria happened at the weekend at the Stephen Keshi Stadium, Asaba, the venue of the ongoing Eighth National Youth Games, where a 14-year-old athlete set a new world record in the boys’ long jump event.

The Games, which was declared open by President Bola Tinubu, on Thursday, has produced some interesting results so far.

However, the result posted by the young jumper, Oddo Melvin of Team Delta elicited quite an applause at the stadium on Saturday evening.

His 7.13m jump in the boys’ long jump not only fetched him a gold medal, but it currently stands as the new record in the Boys’ U-14 category globally. Before the feat, the existing world record for boys’ U-14 was 6.25m.

Last year, when Delta hosted the seventh edition of the National Youth Games at the same venue, the young Oddo Melvin competed in the long jump but failed to get a medal.

But on Saturday evening, Melvin won two gold medals the same day, first in the high jump, where he won with a jump of 1.90m to equal his Personal Best record. He attempted to jump higher by going for 1.95m in the high jump but failed.

About two hours later, he moved to the long jump arena. With the huge crowd cheering him on, Melvin broke the world record twice, leaping 6.99m in his first jump before recording a massive 7.13m to capture the gold medal.

The young Melvin told The Guardian shortly after his event that his dream is to win gold for Team Nigeria at the Olympics.

“First, I thank God for making this possible,” he said. “Since last year, I have been practicing so hard and I am glad my effort has paid off. My dream is to compete at the Olympics and win a medal for Team Nigeria,” Melvin stated.
Former Nigeria long jumper, Olu Sule described Melvin’s