Gentlemen and ladies, when I listened to one of my editors lament so bitterly over the discrimination against Nigeria’s Paralympic athletes, also referred to as physically challenged athletes, I was left with no option than to join her in advocating for better welfare for these athletes who have established themselves as Nigeria’s saving grace at international competitions.
You will recall that at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Team Nigeria athletes failed to win a single medal as they maintained the ignominious record of past failures. In fact, it was the eighth time that Nigeria returned without a medal at the Olympics. The able-bodied athletes had recorded barren outings on their debut in 1952, 1956, 1960, 1968, 1980, 1988, 2012, and 2024.
However, despite their physical challenges and poor preparations, the special athletes went to Paris and are back home with two gold, three silver, and two bronze medals, finishing in 40th position on the medals table. Although this was their worst outing since 1992 when they debuted at the Games in Barcelona, the Paralympians no doubt succeeded where their able-bodied colleagues had failed woefully.
It is imperative to state here that while the Olympians have managed to record a paltry 27 medals (three gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze) in 18 appearances, the Paralympians have amassed 80 medals (40 gold, 19 silver and 21 bronze) in only nine appearances at the Summer Paralympic Games.
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While the Olympians had their best-ever performance at Atlanta 1996 where they won two gold, two silver and three bronze for a total of eight medals, the paralympians had their best performance at the Rio de Janeiro Paralympics in 2016 where they returned home with eight gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
As I build up to my clarion call for enhanced welfare package for special athletes, it is also necessary to state that even as the Team Olympics has produced only one individual gold medallist in Chioma Ajunwa who achieved the feat in the long jump event at the 1996 Games, Team Paralympics team boasts of more than 23 individual gold medallists since the duo of Adeoye Ajibola and Monday Emoghavwe blazed the trail at the Barcelona Games in 1992.
In addition to the adequate attention they have continued to enjoy despite underwhelming performances, the Olympics team usually features in more events than the Paralympics team. For instance, at the Paris Olympics, Team Nigeria presented 88 athletes (23 men and 63 women) who competed in 12 events while the Paralympics team had only 24 athletes in four events.
In a worrisome declaration, the Ministry of Sports said it had secured N9 billion from the Federal Government for the Olympics contingent and N3 billion for the Paralympics team. This shows that even as the Olympics team had more than enough resources to prosecute the Games in Paris, the Paralympians had to operate on a very tight budget. Yet, they were the people who cleaned the mess left behind in Paris by their well-funded compatriots.
However, the good news is that this time around, the physically challenged athletes have benefitted from the monumental failure of the Olympic team in Paris. Unlike in the past when they were poorly remunerated, the president of the Paralympics Committee of Nigeria (PCN), Sunday Odebode, has said medallists at the Paralympic Games in Paris were paid handsomely even before they returned to Nigeria.
According to Odebode, the two gold medallists, Onyinyechi Mark and Folashade Oluwfemiayo have been paid $15,000 each, the three silver medallists, Bose Omolayo, Flora Ugwunwa and Nworgu Esther, $10,000 each while the two winners of bronze medals, Isau Ogunkunle and Eniola Bolaji received $5,000 each.
In addition to the money from the Ministry of Sports, the victorious athletes received $1500, $1000 and $500 respectively from the PCN led by Odebode. Without a doubt, this unprecedented windfall for the Paralympians is made possible by the woeful performance of the able bodied athletes.
The failure of the Olympic team to win a single medal in Paris means the Sports Ministry had enough money to splash on the victorious Paralympians. Before now, the Paralympians didn’t earn this much.
But the sad news as confirmed by Odebode is that the athletes who didn’t win a single medal at the Paralympics didn’t get a dime from the Ministry of Sports. As if the ministry applied the principle of no reward for effort only, these athletes who laboured to reach Paris but failed to win would watch as their colleagues smile to the bank. However, Odebode said such unfortunate athletes were paid $100 by the Paralympics Committee as consolation.
The other worrisome news is that even as the athletes who failed to win medals were excluded from the cash reward by the ministry, it is said team officials received $1,000 each. Whoever took that decision isn’t fair to the Paralympic athletes without medals.
Well, the thrust of this article is to laud the government on the attractive cash reward to the para-athletes and urge the Federal Ministry of Sports to continue to give priority attention to the welfare of the special people in sports.
It is said that to whom much is given, much is expected. The Olympics team which enjoys better attention is always found wanting when it comes to justifying the preferential treatment to them, yet we continue to undermine the achievements of the special athletes who receive so little but offer so much in terms of results.
So, the time has come for the concerned authorities to create an enabling environment for the physically challenged athletes to thrive. Apart from the fact they constantly deliver the goods at international competitions, their physical conditions alone should elicit empathy. Honestly, there is no good reason to give so much to the able-bodied athletes, while those whose conditions should move us to pity are supported half-heartedly.
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