FRANCE 98 – General Media News Template

Some footballers might damage their cruciate ligaments, but Nigerian striker Nwankwo Kanu was born with a heart defect which might have done more than cut short his playing career. The 1996 Olympic soccer champion is returning to the world stage at France ‘98 thanks only to the skill of US surgeons, and a routine medical check at Inter Milan which almost certainly saved his life.

Kanu was born in Owerri, Nigeria on August 1, 1986. What nobody knew then was that a future footballing prodigy had a deformed heart valve. It went unnoticed throughout his childhood and also his teenage years; both in Nigeria, where he played for local side Iwuanyanwu in 1992-93, and in Holland, when he joined Ajax Amsterdam the following season as a 17-year-old. Ajax coach Louis Van Gaal only used Kanu six times in his first season, but the Nigerian scored twice and was clearly going to get better.

In 1994-95, he made 18 league appearances, often as an alternative to Patrick Kluivert, and scored 10 times. Both youngsters came on as substitutes in the 1995 European Cup final, with Kluivert poking home the winner against his present club, AC Milan. By 1995/96, Kanu was an established first team regular, with the lanky teenager scoring 13 goals in 30 matches as Ajax won the Dutch league for the third consecutive year. That success was to be overshadowed by Ajax’s defeat in the European Cup final, when they lost on penalties to Juventus in Rome.

But a couple of months later, Kanu was packing his bags and heading for another adventure, this time at the Atlanta Olympics. It wasn’t the first time he had set off to a tournament with high hopes. Back in August 1993, Kanu had scored six goals as Nigeria won the world Under-17 championships in Japan. But he could hardly have expected to score twice in five minutes, knocking mighty Brazil out of the semi-finals, and then help his side to the final victory against Argentina.

Kanu had already agreed to join Inter Milan and, on his return, everything seemed to be proceeding normally. Contracts were signed, money changed hands and Kanu began playing friendlies for Inter. There hadn’t been time for Kanu to take his medical, but being a champion Olympic athlete it was surely a mere formality.

The bombshell dropped on Monday, September 26, when Kanu was connected up to an electro-cardiogram at a Milan sports clinic. The readings pointed to a major problem with the Nigerian’s heart, whose deformed heart valve wouldn’t close properly and was now beginning to leak.

Medical staff concluded there must be something wrong with the machine. The following day, Kanu underwent further tests in a different clinic with identical results, and the enormity of the danger suddenly became all too clear. Kanu was due to make his debut in an Italian cup-tie two days later, but the club announced to a waiting world that their new recruit would not be playing. “He’s got bronchitis,” they said.

The truth eventually came out, but Kanu was determined not to be beaten by his deformity.

“My footballing career is not over,” he said. “I’m going to the best specialists in the world and then I’m going to play again.” Nearly two years ago, it sounded like whistling in the dark, yet every word of Kanu’s prediction has since come true. With Inter’s help, Kanu underwent surgery at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio in November, and had the aorta valve repaired in a pioneering operation. It was a resounding success and Kanu made an emotional return for Inter Milan on September 4, 1997, fittingly in an Italian Cup tie.

After threatening to leave if he didn’t get to play, Kanu eventually got his chance and is now looking forward to joining Nigeria at France ‘98; and writing the next chapter in a book which might once have ended right after the introduction.