The Olympic Games are more about friendship, unity and competitive spirit than winning. Yes! Winning is good. But there is more to the Olympics than winning.
I watched some of the events that team Nigeria participated in, as a Nigerian, I am proud of many of them.
My children and I watched Nigeria vs USA in the quarter finals of the basketball event. I confirmed to them that D’Tigress was playing against the No 1 basketball team in the world. Collectively, we routed for our girls, shouting at the top of our voice like the girls could hear us 😁. We celebrated the fact that our girls won the fourth round, beating USA 26-12, though we lost the match. At Paris 2024, D’Tigress went into the history books as the first African team (male or female) to reach the quarter finals of Olympic basketball, beating world no 3 (Australia) and world number 5 (Canada) in a group that includes France.
D’Tigress coach, Wakama was voted the best coach of Olympics basketball. That’s something because Wakama is a Nigerian and just 33 years old.
There were near misses with Team Nigeria at Paris 2024. We’re just not that lucky this time around.
Some of our athletes are in the top 10 of their categories/sports globally. Some of them are still young (18, 19, 21 years old) with a long career and victories ahead of them.
Many of the athletes prepared hard for the Olympics at home and abroad. Many of them live and train abroad. They prepared fine and hard and competed at classic events all season like their competitors.
The idea that we didn’t win a single medal because we didn’t prepare well rests on shaky ground. Of course, we’re a people in love with scapegoatism.
Tobi Amusan is the world champion in her category. Did she also lose because Nigeria didn’t prepare her well for the Olympics? I don’t think so.
My intervention here is not to excuse sports mismanagement and corruption in Nigeria. Nigeria has not realized her full potential in sports due to what many of us know about administration of sports in Nigeria. At the core of our problems is corrupt and nepotism. Those two evils occupy the front seat of sport administration in Nigeria.
Government must focus attention on the issues at the centre of how we often do not realize our full potential at sporting events.
But, we don’t need to beat ourselves so hard that we didn’t win a medal at Paris 2024. Let’s demand an action plan from the government and set a goal on how Nigeria would win at least 20 medals, not less than 10 gold, at Los Angeles 2028.
There’s no point crying over spilt milk.
MBHS 95 Alumni Association 