Cacophony fills the Nigerian sports space. From the ashes of the country’s participation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games springs the shrill of anger and condemnation.
In the past one week, Nigerians have collectively vented their anger and frustration at those they perceive to have caused thecountry’s failure to return from Paris with a single medal. They are baying for the blood of sports officials, especially that of the Sports Minister, because the buck of the calamitous ‘failure’ of the athletes stops at his desk.
To win any medal is not a stroll in the part. It is earned on the fields of competition. To even get to the Olympics is a painstaking ‘journey’. The 100 metres finals will last only 10 seconds.
In attending the 1980 Olympics, Nigeria went with the best set of sports administrators in the history of the country – a Sports Ministry and an NSC complete with Isaac Akioye and that whole generation of stakeholders and seasoned administrators. That report fuelled the anger of Nigerians and was attributed for the country’s failure to win any medal. The country went into a frenzy, calling for heads to roll.
Forget 1996, the glorious year of Nigeria at the Olympics. The victory of that campaign was not deliberate or earned by dint of any deliberate policies, or program. People forget easily that even the ‘Dream Team’ that mesmerised the world and created Olympic history went to the Games in administrative shambles. That team was the assembly of some of the most gifted footballers in Nigeria’s history. That’s why they eventually won.
That’s why, as a bona fide member of Nigeria’s pool of Olympians, over 700 strong throughout the country’s history, I appreciate how only a handful have Olympic medals around their necks to show for their place in history. Yet, we all lay claim to being ‘successful’ Olympians. A board of the Commission should be constituted comprising tested, experienced and qualified stakeholders, technocrats and private sector players.
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Beyond The Medals Olympic Games Paris 2024
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