Olympics end as Nigeria return with no medal
The London 2012 Olympic Games ended on Sunday with Team Nigeria
returning home with no medal, raising questions over the N1.9bn budgeted
for the Nigeria’s participation at the Games.
It was an unusual record compared to the nation’s achievements at the
Games in the past two decades. It was one that reminded Nigerians of
the woeful performance recorded when Nigerian did not win any medal at
Seoul ’88.
In London, Nigeria’s hopes for medals were shouldered by the
athletics team, where Blessing Okagbare was regarded as a match for
Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce of Jamaica and Carmelita Jeter of the US in the
women’s 100m. But Okagbare finished the final in the 8th position,
blaming her poor performance on injury despite competing till the end.
In the long jump, she had an equally bad outing, failing to qualify
for the final after finishing in the 17th position. In the women’s
4x100m relay race, Christy Udoh, Gloria Asumnu, Oludamola Osayomi and
Okagbare did put up a fight but the 42.64 time recorded by them was only
good as their season’s best with Nigeria ending in the 4th position.
Ajoke Odumosu also raised the nation’s hopes when she reached the
400m hurdles but she came last to end all medal expectations from the
race.
The basketball team reached the Olympics for the first time with much
expectation, especially after beating Greece and Lithuania,
respectively ranked 4th and 5th in the world, during the qualifiers.
They even gladdened the nation’s heart with a win over African
champions, Tunisia, in their first match at the Olympics, but defeats by
to Lithuania, Argentina, US and France ended first basketball
participation at the Games with one win.
There was disappointment after the table tennis team was ousted a day
after the opening ceremony but there were last minute hopes that later
produced no medals for Nigeria.
Team Nigeria’s Captain Chika Chukwumerije, who won a bronze at the
last Olympic Games in Beijing, China was seen as a medal prospect in
taekwondo because of the preparation he had before the Games. He did not
begin his contest until a day before the closing ceremony, but in his
only fight, he lost to Cuban opponent, Robelis Despaigne, in the
men’s+80kg class.
A few hours after his defeat on Saturday, another hope was dashed
when the women’s 4x400m relay team was disqualified in the final. It was
however not the final straw as hopes of any type of medal rested on
Sinivie Boltic, a male wrestler in the freestyle 96kgcategory. He drew
bye into the quarterfinals where he met Republic of Moldova’s Ceban
Nicolai on Sunday. But like other athletes that represented Nigeria,
Boltic did not get to the medal zone, ending all hopes for Nigeria.
A few weeks before the Games commenced, there was controversy over
the release of funds as sports federations bosses had to look for money
to prepare athletes for the competition. Chukwumerije was the only
athlete who had first class preparation for the Games. He was treated
for an injury in London and sent to Korea to prepare for his taekwondo
event.
Reacting to the nation’s failure in London, a member of the
Association of Veteran Sports Administrators Forum, Martins Osaile, said
Nigerians should hold the Federal Government responsible for the poor
outing.
Osaile said, “Before 1999 when we returned to democratic rule, our
sport was healthy, today it is almost dead. The present government in
the hands of our people is not ready to develop sport in Nigeria. They
play game with the future of our athletes. They have forgotten that
there is political power in achieving excellence in global events.
“When the present head of the Nigeria Olympic Committee, Sanni
Ndanusa, was the president of tennis federation, I challenged him to
list his achievements in the sport. To the surprise of Nigerians, he
became the sports minister and now NOC president. That shows how the
Nigerian government has relegated sport in Nigeria.”
Osaile advised the athletes to challenge their leaders and free themselves from their hold.
“Usain Bolt made over $30m from endorsement last year and there are
many others that were not documented for public consumption. How many
Nigerian athletes made anything from endorsement in the past one year?
The US announced last week that camp for the 2016 Olympics would open in
September, here in Nigeria, we will not start until three months to the
Games,” Osaile said.
Former boxer and an Olympian, Jeremiah Okorodudu, said the boxers who
represented Nigeria in London were not ready for the contest.
He said, “We had three boxers but they were not good enough to win
medals. They were picked from the National Sports Festival which was
wrong. If we are going to use the festival as Olympic qualifier, it
should be made open. You cannot take rookies to a big event like the
Olympics.”
Okorodudu also said Nigeria was heading for a major failure when training tours are not properly handled before the Games.
“In the past when Nigeria did well at the Olympics, training tours
were not limited to putting athletes in a hotel and training at a remote
facility. Tours are meant to expose the athletes and put them in proper
shape for the big events,” he said.
