Olympic athlete killed in accident

Anugo was killed just a week before the Games start

An Olympic athlete has been killed in a road accident in Sydney.

Nigerian runner Hyginus Anugo was fatally injured in a collision with a car near the Olympic precinct.

Anugo, who was 22, was due to run in the 400m and was also a reserve for the relay team.

It was first thought that a Nigerian Olympic official was the victim, but it was later confirmed Anugo had been killed while crossing a road.

Tribute

Nigerian Athletics Federation president Oluyomi Adeyemi-Wilson paid tribute to Anugo.

"The news about Anugo's death was broken to the federation by our secretary, who called from the Nigerian Olympic camp in Sydney," he said.

"It is very sad indeed. This has never happened in the history of this country."

Anugo was considered a promising young 200m and 400m runner and had participated in the World Junior Championships in 1996 in Sydney.

"He was a very quiet person, an easy-going person," Nigerian coach Brown Ebewele said.

"When the news got to us, everybody was shocked."

What you do is go out there and win it for him

  Moses Ogun, coach

Moses Ogun, another coach, said his athletes were upset but he had counselled them to put the tragedy behind them and remain focused on the Games.

"It's no good crying. What you do is go out there and win it for him," he said from the Olympic Village, where the Nigerian flag was flying at half mast.

New South Wales state premier Bob Carr said his thoughts were with Anugo's colleagues.

"We grieve with them as they do about the death of someone drawn to Sydney by this huge event, the Olympics," he said.

"We think of all the time that he put in his training and all that he may have expected to achieve in Sydney."