By Tony Nezianya
Indeed, it has become the norm for countries to vouch to commence preparations immediately after one Olympic Games, Nigeria not being an exception.
But while others do, Nigeria and in majority Africans pay lip service to such averment, hence they are always at the bottom of the ladder while the U.S., Great Britain, China, Russia, Germany and Japan rule the world.
It is noteworthy that Niger which won only a silver medal at the Rio Games in Brazil has vowed to keep its team to the competition together for Tokyo 2020 Olympics in Japan.
In fact, it did not disband the Team but moved them straight to camp hoping that they will train adequately in a good environment till the next competition.
Niger has provided practical impetus by promptly appreciating their man of the moment — Abdoulrazak Issoufou Alfaga and motivating him rightly for Tokyo 2020.
The President of the Republic, Mahamadou Issoufou, has rewarded the athlete with 100,000 dollars in cash and has undertaken to bankroll the cost of the athletes’ stay at a German Training Centre for the Olympic Taekwondo silver medallist until the next Games.
For Nigeria, the case of poor preparation and lack of funds have become a tradition as successive administrations have not made enough efforts to ensure that preparations commenced immediately after one Olympics.
Of late, from Beijing 2008 Olympics to Rio Games, Nigeria have not performed creditably though the sports authorities have always had a reason to offer, often blaming it on poor preparations due to inadequate funding.
Nigeria had its best Olympic outing at Atlanta 1996 Games where Chioma Ajunwa secured the country’s first Olympic gold medal in Long Jump with a record of 7.12m.
Mary Onyali and Falilat Ogunkoya won bronze in the 200m and 400m respectively, while Ogunkoya, Bisi Afolabi, Fatima Yusuf and Charity Okpara won silver in the women’s 4x100m relay.
The Dream Team also won gold in the football event with the following players — Daniel Amokachie, Emmanuel Amuneke, Tijjani Babangida, Celestine Babayaro, Emmanuel Babayaro, Teslim Fatusi, Victor Ikpeba and Dosu Joseph.
Others are Nwankwo Kanu, Garba Lawal, Abiodun Obafemi, Kingsley Obiekwu, Uche Okechukwu, Austin`Jay-Jay’ Okocha, Sunday Oliseh, Mobi Oparaku, Wilson Oruma and Taribo West.
But the achievement was possible because then adequate preparations were made and the athletes camped early. The issue of funds are not available was not there.
At Beijing 2008 Games only Chika Chukwumerije secured Nigeria’s bronze medal in the Taekwondo event, while enterprising Blessing Okagbare, took home silver from the Long Jump event, opening a vista of criticism of the country’s poor preparations.
The situation worsened at the London 2012 Games where Team Nigeria returned no medal after all the declaration that preparations had commenced after the 2008 Games.
Thanks to Dream Team VI which etched the country’s name on the medals table with a bronze medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics in Brazil.
As usual the outcome of the participation was still blamed on inadequate preparations and late release of funds.
It is noteworthy that the country was admitted into the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 1951 before its independence in 1960 but its Olympic history in the Summer Games has been chequered.
The question is; shall Nigeria continue to go that way? What is responsible and how do we achieve a better result at Tokyo 2010 Olympic Games in Japan?
A renowned sports journalist, Muyiwa Daniel, said Nigeria has had a rather high turnover of sports ministers, who spend an average of two years before being sacked or simply dropped.
He catalogued Nigeria’s performances since 1952, saying it was in the days when the government invested in its youths and sports and the resulted became visible.
He said: “Nigeria debuted in the 1952 Games at the Helsinki as an administered territory under the British Union Jack. The territory did not win a medal at its maiden outing.
“Even at the subsequent one — the Melbourne Games of 1956, the territory’s outing was not productive.
“The two could be excusable because then the country had competed as a dependent territory of the British Empire.
“The 1960 Games in Rome was not really expected to produce a different result.
“It was until the Games of 1964 in Tokyo that Nigeria as an independent nation made it the podium the first time when it won a bronze medal through Nojeem Maiyegun, in the boxing event.
“Maiyegun, a trail-blazer, made the difference to announce the arrival of Nigeria on sporting stage,’’ Daniel said.
It will be recalled that at Mexico Games in 1968, where they nation was expected to consolidate on the gains of Tokyo, it simply flopped. The contingent returned without any medal.
However, at the Munich Games of 1972, a young Nigerian, Isaac Ikhuoria, an enterprising boxer, overcame a hostage crisis that rocked the Games to put Nigeria in a celebration mood with a bronze medal from the boxing event.
Nigeria, however, boycotted the Montreal Games of 1976 in Canada in response to an international fight against the apartheid regime then ruling South Africa.
Canada as hosts of the Games was accused of maintaining sports links with the then obnoxious apartheid regime in South Africa.
The country made it to the Moscow Games of 1980, even with a boycott led by the U.S., returning rather with a bag full of sex scandal.
But the Los Angeles Games of 1984, which was boycotted by the Russians in retaliation of the U.S.-led boycott of the Moscow 1980, produced sterling performance from the Nigerian contingent.
At the Los Angeles Games, Peter Konyegwachie won silver in the boxing event — the first higher grade of medal for the country.
Added to this was Nigeria’s relay quartet involving the all-time greats, Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbusien, Rotimi Peters and Innocent Egbunike who won silver in 4×400 metres that scored another first from athletics.
At the Seoul Games of 1988, the country rather returned with another scandal involving excess luggage accumulated by
officials, athletes and their accompanying officials instead of a harvest of medals.
The excess cargo was so much that the charter flight sent to convey the contingent back could not cope with transporting the excess items alongside the contingent.
The Barcelona Games of1992 was a different ball game as the country’s 4×100 relay team comprising, Olapade Adeniken, Davidson Ezinwa, Chidi Imoh, Oluyemi Kayode and Osmond Ezinwa won silver in the 4x100m.
The female 4x100m relay team made up of Beatrice Utondu, Christy Opara-Thompson, Mary Onyali and Faith Idehen also won silver that was over celebrated.
The celebration attracted an IOC photographer, who caught them in the now famous photo shot that virtually went worldwide.
The ionic photo of the celebration caused the picture to make headlines around the world. The photo made many Olympic documents.
Two boxers David Izonritei in heavyweight and Richard Igbineghu in the Super heavyweight divisions won silver medals apiece.
At the millennium Sydney Games of 2000, following an International Olympic Committee’s decision to strip the U.S. relay quartet of their gold medal in the 4x400m after Antonio Pettigrew confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs.
Their Nigerian rivals were awarded the gold medal a decade after by default.
At the Athens 2004 Games, the Nigerian quartet waited until the last day of competition to win a lone bronze medal from the 4x400m relays.
Daniel said that in all the excuses that followed each failure, the ministers of sports have always tried to vouch that early preparation would be the answer to the next Games.
Contributing, Onyechi Ikpeazu, a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN) said: “We are tired of hearing that preparation will begin ahead of the next Games — Tokyo 2020, only to be assaulted with the same lack-lustre performance.
“Somebody ought to take full responsibility and really begin a productive pre-Games process that is not tainted by deceit so that at Tokyo, we can actually aspire like the rest of the world to imprint our names on the sands of time’’.
AIPS-Africa President, Nigeria’s Mitchell Obi, said: “Africa needs more of Niger Republic’s President to dole out more of his kind gesture’’.
This is in contrast to a directive quoting Zimbabwean, President Robert Mugabe, as insisting that all the Olympians from the Rio de Janeiro Games be arrested and docked for failing to return home with medals from the Rio Olympic Games.
He was quoted as saying, “if we wanted those to sing the Zimbabwean National Anthem at the Olympic Games, we could have presented some young beautiful Zimbabwean girls’’.
A former Nigerian sports minister, Bolaji Abdullahi, unlike his predecessors tried to kick start preparations for the just-concluded, Rio de Janeiro Games, but his tenure was abruptly terminated.
Solomon Ogba, the president of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) craved the involvement of the sports administrators in the selection and development of athletes for major Games.
He cited the engagement of two experts — High Performance Directors — Eric Campbell and Angie Taylor, to work with local coaches to develop local athletic potential.
Sports buffs across the country said that there should be policy consistency in administering sports with ministers in charge not being changed too often.
Political will, they also said, was important in ensuring that funds for early preparations are duly released and that mechanisms are put in place to effectively monitor the implementation of the training programmes.
The AFN says it is important to strengthen the institutions for athletes training citing the High performance Centre in Port Harcourt, Rivers, and the National Institute for Sports (NISports), Lagos.
It is also important to maintain strong linkages with such institutions in other countries for technical exchanges.
Duro Ikhazuagbe, a journalist and a former spokesman of the AFN, said the federation had clamoured for such high performance centres as in Senegal and Kenya.
“Through such centres, the countries and those within their region have developed their athletes’’.
He adds that the centre is funded through a counterpart arrangement from the host country and the African Athletics Confederation (AAC).
There is also the need for the country to ensure that school sports were revived at the primary and secondary
schools for steady breeding of athletes.
There should be improvement in the facilities for training with modern equipment.
Unfortunately, for more than 10 years, the defunct National Sports Commission tried to set up a High Altitude Centre at Gembu, within the Mambilla Plateau but to date, the project has yet to be completed.
The world leaders in athletics, Jamaicans and Americans derive the success of their athletic system from a strong link to schools that produced the worlds’ fastest man, Usain Bolt and a host of other new breed of runners.
“It will be worth understudying the Jamaican system to adopt the model with massive funding from government and multinational sponsors,’’ suggested Ikhazuagbe.
That Nigeria could only win a bronze medal at Games, where such countries as Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa, Egypt and Botswana won multiple honours `is unacceptable’.
“We must as a matter of urgency get back to the schools, because that is where the talents are.
“All the stakeholders from the Federal Government to the local government councils must rise up to the challenge of rebuilding the Nigerian sports,” the Guild of Nigerian Editors said.
The Guild adds: “The Federal Government must not pay lip service to sports by way of releasing funds late’’.
It will be only a matter of now and the Tokyo Games, if the advice will be heeded. Time will tell. (NANFEATURES)
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