Team Nigeria are yet to win a medal (Gold, Silver and Bronze) at the ongoing Paris Olympics Games in France.
The Paris Olympics Games, which started on 26 July, enter its Day 11 on Tuesday.
A total of thirty-two (32) sports are featured in this year’s Olympics.
It was reports that 87 athletes are representing Nigeria in 12 different sports at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The sports are badminton, canoeing, cycling, football (women), basketball (women), athletics, taekwondo, swimming, boxing, table tennis, weightlifting and wrestling.
Over the weekend, Nigeria’s hopes of having an athlete in the 100m men’s final at the Paris Olympics were dashed as Favour Ashe and Kayinsola Ajayi failed to qualify from their respective semi-final races.
D’Tigress, on their own part, will face Olympics women’s basketball holders, the United States of America in the quarter-finals after beating Canada on Sunday.
On Monday, Nigeria’s Blessing Oborududu failed to clinch a place in the final of the women’s wrestling, 68kg, after losing to Kyrgyzstan’s Meerim Zhumanazarova.
However, Favour Ofili, who couldn’t compete in the women’s 100m after she was not registered by officials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, and Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC, qualified for the final of the women’s 200m after finishing second with a season’s best of 22.05s.
Last Wednesday, the Super Falcons crashed out of the women’s football event after losing all three of their matches against Brazil, Spain and Japan.
When asked why Team Nigeria are so far not performing well and are yet to win a medal, Saheed Afolabi, who works at Clear TV said: “For Team Nigeria, I think they are performing against the best athletes from different countries all over the world and then this also boils down to how well prepared they had before going to the Olympics.
“How many camping did they [Team Nigeria] have? What has the Ministry of Sports or the Athletics Federation of Nigeria done for the athletes to make sure that they are in the best shape for the Olympics?
“So if you look into all these things, then we would now understand that the Nigerian athletes gave their best; unfortunately they did not have the best of preparation.”
On the way forward to ensure that Team Nigeria does better in subsequent competitions, Afolabi added: “Nigeria’s Sports Federation needs to stop having this lackadaisical attitude towards the welfare and competitiveness of the athletes.
“Nigerian athletes need to be given the best of preparation and make sure that they are in the best shape for the Olympics because it is a major tournament.
“A major tournament like the Olympics should not be thrown under the carpet.
“The Olympics need the best preparation, unfortunately Team Nigeria have not had the best preparation and it is very sad.
“You can’t take an average preparation to the Olympics and expect the athletes to break world records, it is not possible.
“You need to look at the part of other countries’ athletes that were given the best preparation and surely an athlete that was given the best preparation would actually prove it, break world records and win medals.
“So for me, I didn’t expect much from Team Nigeria going into the Olympics. I only expected them to compete and if they win a medal, it would be a surprise to me.”
When asked if Nigeria stands any hope of winning a medal in any of the sporting events, Afolabi said, “Tobi Amusan and Ese Brume can get one or two medals to put a smile on Nigerians.
“Ese won a medal at the last Olympics, so hopefully Tobi Amusan could give Nigerians something to cheer about even if it is a gold, silver or bronze, a medal is a medal.
“Look at the country [Saint Lucia] that won gold at the women’s 100m final. That is the first time they would be winning a medal at the Olympics.
“They have never won a medal before in the Olympics. It’s the first time they would be winning a medal at the 100m finals, a gold medal- this shows you how much the country has invested into sports and the athletes’ future for you to see that kind of a result.
“So if you don’t invest much, I don’t think you can get a result.
“Tobi Amusan is a product of the adopt talent initiative that was brought by the immediate past former Sports Minister, Sunday Dare. That was how Tobi Amusan was able to reach the potential that we are seeing today.
“The adopted talent paves way for her to be re-adopted by a wealthy Nigerian or a State Government where they actually make sure they sponsor all her athletics stuff all round the world or even in Nigeria and that was what actually brought the best from Tobi Amusan. So Nigeria needs to invest more in athletics.
“So the question is after this Olympics, what next? Nigeria would abandon the athletes again and four, three or two months to the next Olympics, those in charge of sports in the country will begin to crack up their heads on how to get these athletes together.
“So it is just a circle that keeps repeating itself. The Sports federation, the ministry need to change their mindset towards athletes’ future.”
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