Nigeria’s march towards Olympics glory
Precisely, Nigeria has participated in 14 Olympic Games, and won a total of 23 medals, made up of two gold medals, nine silver medals and 12 bronze medals. The records have shown that the men, who were the first to win a medal at the 1964 games in Tokyo, and have also hauled more medals […]
Precisely, Nigeria has participated in 14 Olympic Games, and won a total of 23 medals, made up of two gold medals, nine silver medals and 12 bronze medals.
The records have shown that the men, who were the first to win a medal at the 1964 games in Tokyo, and have also hauled more medals than their women counterparts. The men have in their kitty one gold, seven silver and seven bronze medals, while the women have won one gold medal, two silver and five bronze medals.
Besides the bronze medal won by Chika Chukwumerije in the +80 kilogramme category of taekwondo event at the Beijing Olympics, most of the country’s medals at the Olympics are in athletics and boxing.
The national U-23 football team, which won gold medal at the 1996 games in Atlanta, also has to its credit a silver medal that it win at the Beijing Olympic Games in Beijing.
Nigeria’s best performance at the games was at the Atlanta 1996 edition where the country’s contingent won two gold medals in the men’s football event and long jump, as well as one silver and three bronze medals.
Just like in previous editions, when a lot of energy and resources were spent to ensure that Team Nigeria does well at the games, the leadership of the National Sports Commission (NSC), who are the custodians of the nation’s sports sector, has pledged to leave no stone unturned in ensuring that Nigeria surpasses her previous performance at the games.
The Commission’s assurance in line with President Jonathan directive last month that Team Nigeria should strive to surpass its best performance ever at the games which was posted at the 1996 edition in Atalanta, Georgia USA.
Speaking at the Grand Patron’s Dinner in Abuja, organised in his honour by the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC), Jonathan noted that Nigeria has the potentials to achieve more in sports; given the nation’s human resources and sports talents.
Assuring that the government would continue to play statutory role in developing sports in Nigeria, within the limits of its resources, the number one citizen charged athletes that have so far qualified for the games to begin preparations to enable them excel at the games.
He said the government had ensured that the National Sports Commission (NSC) and the NOC secured first-class pre-games training facilities in Surrey, UK for their final preparation for the games.
Last year, National Sports Commission’s Director General Chief Patrick Ekeji told a media briefing in Abuja that Nigeria’s target is at the London 2012 Games is to post the best African record.
This position was echoed by Mallam Al-hassan Saleh Yakmut, who is the Chairman of the Advisory and Coordinating Committee for Nigeria’s participation at the London 2012 Games told reporters last weekend in Abuja that the country was in course for its best performance at the quadrennial sports fiesta.
Yakmut said the decision to go to the games with the lowest number of athletes was in line with the country’s desire to present only those who have the prospect of hauling medals at the games. As at last week, Yakmut said only 80 athletes have so far qualified to represent the country in different sports at the forthcoming 2012 London Olympic and Paralympics Games.
He said athletes who represent Nigeria at the Olympic Games will be picked on merit, as the country is not ready to experiment at the games.
“There is no room for experiment and that is why the number of athletes is concise and good for business.
According to Yakmut, while 46 athletes made up of 24 males and 22 females have so far qualified for the Olympic Games proper, 21 males and 13 females have picked tickets to represent the country at the Paralympics Games.
He said the qualified athletes will feature in athletics, canoeing, table tennis, wrestling, weightlifting and taekwondo, s ix out of the eight sports that Nigeria would compete in at the games; adding that the number would increase by the time the country’s boxing and basketball teams conclude their qualifying tournaments.
After the qualifying tournaments, he said those who qualify for the games will go into offshore camping in South Korea, Germany and Atlanta, USA as part of measures to ensure excellent performance of Team Nigeria athletes at the games.
“The choice of today’s event is deliberate because we want to ensure that it comes at a time that we have recorded 80 percent qualifications. As at today, six out of eight of pour federations have completed their qualifiers and 46 athletes have picked qualification tickets for London Olympics proper and 34 for the Paralympics Games”, he stated.
Speaking on the efforts to nip in the bud the ugly trend of drugs from Team Nigeria at the London Olympic Games, Yakmut disclosed that three sets of internal dope tests will be carried on the athletes representing the country to ascertain their state before being sent to the Games Village.
“The first set of internal dope has already been carried on our athletes, and this is going to be a continuous exercise, the last will be done in Surrey because we want to ensure that athletes going into the Games Village are those that have received a clean bill of health”, Yakmut concluded.
In addition to that, he said the country’s Olympics participation will not suffer as a result of delayed budget release, as the leadership of the NSC has made alternative funding arrangements to bankroll pre-Olympics programmes to ensure a successful outing for Team Nigeria at the Olympics.
Besides that, Yakmut said the minister has released funds to Nigerian athletes who were training on their own to assist them offset their training costs and settle those hired to help them in their training.
“On the issue of funding, there is no challenge for funding now; approval has been made and very soon cash backing will be released. Again, the Honourable Minister has approved training grants for independent athletes to boost their morale, ameliorate their conditions and assist them in offsetting training costs” he added.
Besides the arrangements being made by the various sports federations and the Nigeria Olympic Committee to monitor and assist athletes in their preparations, Yakmut explained that the NSC has set up two monitoring teams, who apart from monitoring the progress of Nigerian athletes, have also been monitoring the performances of athletes from other parts of the world to know how improve Nigeria’s medal chances at the games.
Already, like Yakmut revealed a number of athletes have qualified for the games, with the most recent being the qualification two Nigerian female weightlifters, Mariam Usman and Chineye Fidelis for the weightlifting event.
Mariam Usman and Chineye Fidelis set new African and Commonwealth records in the plus 75kg and 53kg weight categories respectively in African Olympic qualifier held in Kenya to give Nigeria two slots for the London Games.
With the level of preparations and the records so far posted by Nigerian athletes in the qualifying events, expectations are high that the much talked about Olympics best result will be a reality, with athletes and federations’ officials raising expectations.
Reigning Nigeria long jump indoor record holder at 8.26m, Charlton Ehizuelen has hailed the progress the track and field team is making at their Atlanta, USA camp under new national coach, Innocent Egbunike and believes the team can surprise Nigerians by winning medals at the London Olympics this summer.
Ehizuelen after visiting the team’s camp recently on the invitation of Egbunike, expressed confidence the athletes he saw in Atlanta will not be in London to make up the numbers but challenge for the available medals in their various events.
“I am impressed with the dedication the athletes are showing towards their training. I noticed that they have the self-belief that they can do Nigeria proud at the Olympics in spite of odds.
The spirit is good and there is a general sense of purpose in what they are doing”, said Ehizuelen.
Also speaking in the same vein, Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) President Solomon Ogba says the AFN will do everything humanly possible to ensure Nigeria posts a resounding performance at the London Games.
“You know London is like a second home to Nigerians, and how do we explain a situation where Nigerian athletes now become a laughing stock, by not winning medals in London. I know that if we fail to do well in London, Nigerians will stone us”, he stated.