After more than eight days into the ongoing 2024 Paris Olympics, Team Nigeria represented by 84 athletes is yet to get close to any of the numerous champions’ podiums erected at the Games. Instead, the athletes who have so far competed for the biggest country in Africa have fallen by the wayside after painful losses to more superior opponents. So, for now it is a tale of woes for Team Nigeria in Paris.
The faltering performances of the Nigerian contingent have gone contrary to pre-Games expectations which held that the athletes would build on her success at the last African Games in Accra, Ghana to deliver medals at the Paris Games.
In fact, the optimism was so high that many Nigerians, led by the Minister of Sports, Senator John Owan Enoh and the president of the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) Engineer Habu Gumel, charged the athletes to surpass their best-ever outing at the games which came 28 years ago at the Atlanta ’96 Olympics.
Unfortunately, at the moment, a huge shadow of doubt is hanging over Team Nigeria’s chances of picking at least a medal at the games. Team Nigeria was billed to compete in 12 different sports which are football, Basketball, Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Taekwondo, Table tennis, Wrestling, Weightlifting, and Swimming.
However, with a week spent at the games, Nigeria has crashed out of football, table tennis, badminton, boxing, and now the country’s medals hope is hanging on athletics, basketball, canoeing, cycling, swimming, taekwondo, weightlifting and wrestling. But out of the remaining eight sports federations, only athletics and wrestling hold any realistic chance of winning medals for Nigeria in Paris.
Of course, it will be a pleasant surprise if Team Nigeria comes home with a medal in any of the six events namely basketball, canoeing, swimming, cycling, taekwondo and weightlifting. This is because Nigeria is yet to win a medal in these sports since the country debuted at the Games in 1952.
Therefore, the future is indeed looking bleak, and barring unexpected change in fortunes, Team Nigeria may record another barren outing when the curtains fall on Paris Olympics on Sunday, August 11.
It is against this worrisome background, Weekend Trust takes a look at the many woes that have bedeviled Team Nigeria at the world’s largest Games taking place in Paris, France.
Super Falcons equal-worst Olympic record
Nigeria’s abysmal performance at the 2024 Olympics mirrored their 2008 showing, after they were eliminated with a 3-1 defeat by Japan in their final group game on Wednesday evening. Like in 2008, they lost their first two matches before a 3-1 loss in the final game. In Paris, Maika Hamano and Mina Tanaka scored for Japan, before Jennifer Echegini scored for nine-time African champions, but Hikaru Kitagawa’s free kick ended Nigerian hopes.
The Super Falcons needed a two-goal victory to advance but struggled to create opportunities, a contrast to their performance at the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup. Inconsistency, profligacy in front of goal, and defensive lapses plagued them throughout the tournament.
The disappointing performance, especially the loss to Brazil, raises questions about the team’s future and coach Randy Waldrum’s future.
Early exit of Africa’s number one badminton player
Nigeria’s top badminton player and Team Nigeria’s General captain, Anuoluwapo Opeyori, exited Paris Olympics prematurely after a challenging match against the formidable Li Shifeng of China, currently ranked 6th globally in men’s Singles Badminton.
Despite the initial setback of losing his opening game, Opeyori displayed resilience and determination in his attempt to stage an upset and a chance to advance.
However, his spirited efforts came to nought as he was unable to overturn the match result, ultimately losing both sets with identical scores of 17-21, 17-21 to the skilled Shifeng.
Opeyori was Nigeria’s only representative in this event. He has dominated Africa in the men’s singles from 2019 till date, winning four African Championship titles and two African Games titles. Therefore, expectations were high that he would at least go far in the competition.
Drug scandal and early exit of heavyweight boxer, Olatoye
Team Nigeria’s woes continued when they suffered a double blow in boxing. Last Sunday, boxer Olaitan Olatoye was eliminated from the heavyweight category (92kg) after losing 5-0 to Kazakhstan’s Oralbay Aibek.
The embarrassing defeat came on the heels of the earlier disqualification of Cynthia Ogunsemilore due to a failed doping test and subsequent eviction from the Olympic Games Village after she failed to prove her innocence in the doping case.
The International Testing Agency had earlier reported that Ogunsemilore tested positive for furosemide, a prohibited diuretic, in an out-of-competition doping control. The 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medalist and African Games champion had been scheduled to face Taiwan’s Wu Shih Yi in a round of 16 bout before her suspension led to a win for Shih Yi.
Even before the start of the Paris Olympics, the boxing team had experienced a setback when a two-time African featherweight champion Dolapo Omole withdrew from the Games due to injury.
Uneasy calm over athletes’ kits
A crisis was narrowly avoided in Team Nigeria’s camp at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris when the sports ministry and the Nigeria Olympics Committee (NOC) clashed over the provision of kits
for the athletes.
Both the sports ministry and the NOC had supplied different kits for the athletes. Reports indicate that the sports ministry was upset because the NOC had signed a deal with a kit company without informing them, believing that they should have been included in such a decision. It was reported that top officials of the ministry were threatening to instruct athletes not to use the kits provided by the NOC.
The dust raised by this misunderstanding hasn’t settled completely.
Sprinter Ofili’s exclusion saga
The omission of Favour Ofili from the women’s 100m event at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris has come as a major distraction to Nigeria’s campaign, with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) blaming each other while the ministry’s hammer dangles.
Despite Ofili’s qualification and inclusion in the registration for the 100m, her name did not appear on the final entry list. The AFN claims they registered her, while the NOC is being questioned about the oversight. This issue has led to significant frustration and a commitment from the Sports Minister to investigate and hold those responsible accountable.
Ofili, who had qualified for the 100m event during the AFN National Trials with a personal best of 11.06s, angrily expressed her frustration on social media the moment she learnt about her exclusion from the 100m event.
There is also a misunderstanding between indigenous coaches and the AFN over the latter’s preference for expatriate coaches to handle Team Nigeria’s athletes at the Paris Games.
Shambolic outing by team tables tennis
All the players who represented Team Nigeria in table tennis in both male and female categories exited the Games in the most embarrassing manner. As a matter of fact, table tennis laid the foundation for Team Nigeria’s lackluster performance so far in Paris.
Debutant Fatima Bello was eliminated after losing to Jia Nan Yuan of France in the women’s singles Round of 64, with a score of 4-0 (1-11, 3-11, 3-11, 5-11). Bello struggled throughout the match and was unable to match her opponent’s swiftness and precision.
Although Olajide Omotayo and Effiong Edem followed suit, the early elimination of Africa’s number one player, Quadri Aruna was the most shocking. His early ouster was most disappointing and dramatic as he squandered a 3-0 lead to suffer a 4-3 defeat against 19-year-old Romanian Eduard Ionescu.
This marks the first time since table tennis was introduced at the 1988 Olympics that no Nigerian table tennis player registered at least a win at the Games.
Sijuade flops in swimming
Although this sad event didn’t come to many as a surprise, it is necessary to state here that Nigeria’s sole representative in the swimming event, Tobi Sijuade added to the country’s misery when he was eliminated in the heat.
He competed in Heat 5 of the men’s 50 metres swimming for a chance to progress to the semi-final but narrowly finished third with a time of 23.34 seconds, 0.63 seconds behind the qualifying time, thus ending his Olympic dream.
Glimmer of hope
D’Tigress famous victory over Australia
In the midst of the gloom, D’Tigress started their Paris 2024 Olympics campaign on an impressive note, stunning world number three Australia in the women’s basketball event.
The resounding victory was actually Nigeria’s second win in the Women’s Olympic Basketball tournament. The first was in 2004 when they beat South Korea 68-64. But the latest was the D’Tigress’ maiden win in nine preliminary rounds.
Nigeria is now the first African country to have defeated Australia in 12 games at the World Cup and Olympics.
However, the D’Tigress suffered a setback on Thursday after they fell 54-75 to the superior power of the host France in their second Group match at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium.
Therefore, the Nigerian ladies must beat winless Canada today in their final Group B match to stand a chance of progressing in Paris.
So, after the poor results recorded, Team Nigeria is now banking on athletics which kicked off yesterday to make an impact, especially in sprints where Tobi Amusan is leading the charge for medals.
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