G4S 4teen Athlete: Obinna Metu
Obinna Metu is a young sprinter that has shown remarkable progress since he joined the G4S 4teen programme.
In the summer of 2007, G4S launched an innovative sports programme to support a group of aspiring young athletes from around the world.
With the advice and support of leading sporting bodies and National Olympic Committees, Obinna Joseph Metu demonstrated the strong set of values required to develop and compete at the highest level were identified and selected to join G4S 4teen.
The programme also has the support of double Olympic Gold medallist and global sporting icon Haile Gebrselassie. An inspiration to hundreds of thousands of athletes for the past two decades, Haile has committed to mentor the team to help each athlete, including Obinna to achieve his sporting goals.
Obinna is a Business Management undergraduate student at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, and specializes in 100 and 200 meters. He won the gold medal at the All African Games held in Algeria in 2007 where he made his personnel Best time in the 200m as a member of the winning 4 x 100m relay team. In Osaka Japan he won a bronze medal in the 200m at the World Athletics Championships.
He became the Nigerian fastest man in 2008, beating the World indoor 60m champion, Olusoji Fasuba, in the 19th NNPC/Exxon Mobil Nigeria Olympics Trails held in Abuja and he retained the title in the2009 trials.
Obinna represented Nigeria in the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, coming second in his 100m heat with a time of 10.34 seconds. In the 200m he ran with the time of 20.62 seconds. He was also a member of the Nigerian 4 x 100m relay team that led the race at Beijing Olympics until a mistake on baton change led to their elimination.
In 2008, Obinna won gold medals in both the 100 and 200m in the West African University Games held at the University of Legon, Accra, Ghana.
In January, 2009, Obinna was part of the inaugural regional training camp hosted in Kenya for the African athletes of G4S 4teen. Haile Gebrselassie described Obinna as ‘’a bundle of talent who has a very bright future because he is ready to learn”.
During the 2009 12th IAAF World Athletic Championship held in Berlin, Obinna came second in the 100m during the first heat with a time of 10.38 seconds, improved on the second round by running 10.36 seconds.
In November 2009, Obinna and Fanuel Kenosi, G4S 4teen 200m sprinter visited the double Olympics Champion and G4S Global Ambassador, Haile Gebrselassie in his home city in Ethiopia. Obinna has the ambition to become an Olympic gold medallist like the G4S 4teen mentor, Haile Gebrselassie. Obinna said “I’m here to learn from a legend, how great is that”.
Obinna enjoys the ongoing support of G4S Nigeria’s office and the global G4S family. In addition to receive a sponsorship to enable him to focus on training, and competing at, junior and world championships and possibly the greatest sporting events of them all, the Olympic Games.