The 2020 summer Olympic Games took place in Tokyo, Japan between July 23 and August 8, 2021.
At the end of the sporting event, Team Nigeria placed 74th position on the final medal table among the 205 participating countries.
The country was placed in the 8th position among 52 African countries that participated.
Nigeria had presented 60 athletes and got two medals for its troubles, including 10 suspensions for dope-related offences.
The country succeeded with two medals, silver in wrestling, won by Blessing Oborodudu, and bronze in long jump, won by Ese Brume.
Nigeria had five Olympic finalists in 100 meters Hurdles Women, Short Put, Long jump, Wrestling and 100 meters men.
The country’s participation was nearly marred by controversies arising from the disqualification of athletes over non-compliance with anti-doping rules and the provisional suspension placed on Nigeria’s top sprinter, Blessing Okagbare.
That was not the only incident that brought embarrassment to the country before the international community during the event.
There was the $2.7 million Puma kit scandal that has caused Puma to cancel the deal and threaten to sue Nigeria for breach of contract. This led Team Nigeria appearing in incompatible sportswear during the opening ceremony walk-out.
Alternative kits arrived late and were inadequate, causing sport stars to wash-and-wear; followed by the Samsung phone-gift brouhaha between covetous officials and athletes. Nigerian sportsmen even carried placards in protest against poor conduct by fellow countrymen.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, who has been widely criticised by many Nigerians over the dismal Olympics experience, said last Monday that he had set up a panel to investigate the circumstances surrounding the disqualification of 10 Nigerian athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
“I have ordered a full investigation that will not only uncover what happened, but will also recommend a process where such lapses can never occur in the future and initiate leveraging compliance monitoring technology to guardrail this,” Dare stated.
He added, “First is the mishap resulting in 10 Team Nigeria athletes being ruled ineligible to compete for missing their mandatory Out of Competition Test (OTC). When notice of this ruling got to me, I immediately mobilised my team and the AFN leadership to see how the situation could be salvaged.
“We mounted a vigorous appeal process with Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) and had the team members complete the tests. However, timing became the critical issue. Despite our energetic appeal, the deciding committee made its announcement, which gave no latitude to our team members for what was only an inadvertent lapse.
“The adverse decision was painful to accept. We had prepared carefully and eagerly for the Olympics with the expectation that each person, federation, coach and athlete would also complete the necessary preparations required of them. As Minister, I ensured that all necessary approvals were done so that all requisite tests and exams could be timely completed.”
“For me, this unfortunate incident is most painful because these athletes had prepared long and hard and also in view of the challenging circumstances due to COVID-19,” Dare lamented.
Attempts by the minister at rationalising Nigeria’s awful performance are not only annoying, but insensitive and wicked. This is a disreputable attitude.
He should allow Nigerians to mourn silently. He should stop dancing on the graves of Nigerians’ ambitions, which he supervised the interment.
Despite this glaring failure at the Tokyo Olympics, Dare and his praise singers are still beating their chests in pride, believing that finishing in 74th place is a major achievement. The minister should carry the crushing burden of the shameful outing.
Nigeria has been attending the Olympic Games since 1952 but Africa’s most populous nation has only 25 medals to show for these journeys.
These comprise three gold medals; 10 silver medals and 12 bronze medals.
Nigeria has participated in 16 medal expeditions for which the country has sent 722 male and female athletes.
Nigeria won her first medal in Tokyo in 1964 through Nojeem Maiyegun. He claimed bronze in the men’s light middleweight class. Nigeria then waited another eight years to get on the podium again at the Munich Games in 1972 when another boxer, Isaac Ikhouria, won another bronze in the light heavyweight category.
It took another 12 years before the third medal, a historic silver medal, after two bronze medals from boxing by Peter Konyegwachie, who took part in the men’s featherweight category.
The country also won the first-ever medal in athletics. The quartet of Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbusien, Rotimi Peters, and Innocent Egbunike won the bronze in the men’s 4×400m relay.
Thus, it took Nigeria 20 years, between 1964 and 1984; missing out the 1976 Montreal edition, which was boycotted, to win four medals – three from boxing and one from athletics.
Seoul 1988 was a disaster as Team Nigeria, made up of the largest-ever contingent to an Olympic Games, fell on all fours. It was the first edition for which the football team qualified but they came last in Group D, which also had Brazil, Australia, and Yugoslavia. The team, led by German coach, Manfred Hoener, conceded eight goals and scored one through the late Rashidi Yekini.
“Despite this glaring failure at the Tokyo Olympics, Dare and his praise singers are still beating their chests in pride, believing that finishing in 74th place is a major achievement “
The 1992 Games in Barcelona could not come early enough and Team Nigeria made some amends, winning three silver medals and a bronze. These also came from boxing and athletics.
David Izonritei and Richard Igbineghu won silver medals in the men’s heavyweight and men’s super-heavyweight categories while men and women’s relay teams won medals in the 4×100m relay races.
The men’s quartet of Olapade Adeniken, Davidson Ezinwa, Chidi Imoh, and Oluyemi Kayode won silver while the women’s quartet of Beatrice Utondu, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali, and Faith Idehen won bronze.
The golden Nigerian moment came at the 1996 Games held in Atlanta, USA. Team Nigeria won an unprecedented two gold medals, one silver, and three bronze medals.
Now that the Tokyo 2020 Olympics and the attendant scandals are over, Nigeria should begin to honestly and objectively assess what was accomplished as well as what must be done to improve performance for future contests.
