The Bolt principle: Hamzat’s race to Marina House

When we talk about the Olympics, we think of ancient Greece, Mount Olympus, Pierre de Coubertin, the Olympic Rings, and athletes. Beyond being the biggest sporting event in the world, many stories are woven into that laurel wreath. They are stories of grit, determination, disappointment, and triumph.

Every Olympics announces the arrival of young hopefuls, the emergence of new stars, the meteoric rise of champions, the sparkling dominance and consolidation of great athletes, the dimming of fading stars, and finally, the swan song of legends. One strand of the story woven into the iconic laurel wreath started in 2004 at the Athens Games. It was here that Usain Bolt—a young hopeful—graced the tracks, finishing fifth in his heat and not making the finals.

Away from the public glare, Bolt incorporated the Wayne Goldsmith formula of ‘Train the brain. Train emotion management. Train the ability to perform when and where it matters—no matter what the event throws at you.” His efforts started bearing fruit at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, where he made the 200 metres final, but a hamstring injury ruined his parade.

Thereafter, Usain Bolt had moments of standing at the centre, right, and left sides of the podium at the Grand Prix in Lausanne (2006), World Championships in Osaka (2007), the 2008 Beijing Olympics, and the 2009 World Championships, breaking the world record at Beijing and breaking his own record in Berlin.

The story of Usain Bolt shows that the journey to the top starts with a step. It vividly supports the popular aphorism that Rome was not built in a day. A popular Yoruba adage says, “Ikoko ti yio je ata, idi e gbona,” meaning a pot that eats soup cannot escape the heat of fire. This adage is an evergreen homily that cuts across all tracks of titans and public spheres.

This theme, exemplified in Usain Bolt’s journey from ex nihilo to the top in the sports world, fits perfectly with the trajectory of Dr Obafemi Hamzat, the current Deputy Governor of Lagos State. With a sparkling doctorate and a scintillating career working in A-list organisations like Oando, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch, Obafemi was appointed Commissioner for Science and Technology in 2005 by Governor Bola Tinubu.

Under his watch, the digitalisation of all processes through the Oracle ERP system was achieved. This brought corporate governance, the holy grail of the private sector, to the public sector. Also, as Commissioner for Works and Infrastructure (2011–2015) during the Babatunde Fashola administration, he supervised the expansion, upgrading, and completion of many roads.

His hiatus in public service was the period when Akinwunmi Ambode presided over the affairs of the Centre of Excellence. A hiatus here is not a period of idleness; rather, it is a period of taking stock, refreshing, and devising new ways of doing things.

The hiatus period was short, as he served briefly as special adviser on technical matters to Fashola in his federal ministerial capacity before eventually emerging as Babajide Sanwo-Olu’s deputy governor after victory at the polls.

For almost everything Usain Bolt experienced, except injuries, Obafemi Hamzat has had a parallel. Bolt earned a mixture of bronze, silver, and gold; Hamzat served in different capacities. Bolt learnt from the masters before breaking the world record at Beijing; Obafemi has learnt from three different governors of Lagos before becoming the deputy governor.

The Bolt and Obafemi trajectories in sports and the public service are not absurd. Such trajectories are explained in psychology, as elucidated in the work of Anders Ericsson, a Swedish psychologist famous for his work on expert performance and the concept of deliberate practice. His Delayed Mastery Curve framed learning as progressively slow and invisible at the inertia stage.

However, through constant practice, the jagged edges are gradually smoothed out. With consistency in skill acquisition, through repetition and correction, an accumulation resulting in enhanced performance becomes evident at the later stage. Obafemi, over time, as a two-time commissioner, special adviser, and deputy governor, has mastered the curve of governance and is ready to peak as Usain Bolt did at Beijing.

While peaking at the right moment is germane in sports, the road to the podium is not a given.

No free food even in Freetown, as they say on the street. Even if you peak at the right time, you still have to compete with others. For the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Usain Bolt did. And for the Berlin 2009 record-breaking time, Usain Bolt competed with Asafa Powell, Tyson Gay, Marc Burns, and Daniel Bailey, among others. Already, many names are being touted as the next occupant of Marina House, including Dr Obafemi Hamzat’s name.

For Dr Obafemi Hamzat and other names being touted, a short story from another sporting event is instructive. It shows the importance of practice and innovative strategy over speed.

John Landy, an Australian, was a bronze medallist in the 1,500 metres at the 1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne. In 1953, he wanted to be the first man to do a sub-4-minute mile, setting a world record. Much as he tried, his efforts ended in a fiasco.

Then came Roger Bannister, an Englishman who was creative about the sub-4-minute mile task. Bannister welcomed help and used two Olympic runners, Chris Chattaway and Chris Brasher, as pacemakers; by running with the pacemakers, Bannister became the first to break the four-minute mile feat—a feat that John Landy broke six weeks later. So, one may ask: who was the better runner?

The better runner is not necessarily the fastest, like John Landy, but Roger Bannister, who understood how to take advantage of his pacemakers. This advantage Dr Obafemi Hamzat has had in abundance from Tinubu to Fashola and Sanwo-Olu.

All the names being touted have sweat on their temples, too, from persistent training. But training alone does not win a race. You must execute a game plan. Do you go for a bullet start or pull away from the pack at a decisive moment? Yet there must be something in Hamzat, having run alongside three different pacesetters in governance—Bola Tinubu, Babatunde Fashola, and Babajide Sanwo-Olu—. The “JAMB question” begging for an answer is whether Hamzat will take advantage of the rhythm and lessons of these pacemakers.

If he does, he will have taken a sip from the fountain of knowledge captured by the advertising legend Bill Bernbach, who once said: “It may well be that creativity is the last unfair advantage we’re legally allowed to take over our competitors.”

Can Obafemi Hamzat take this “legal unfair advantage” and stand at the centre of the podium?

Toluwalope Shodunke, a media practitioner, can be reached via [email protected].