Nigeria has ended the 2024 Paris Olympics without a medal, with Hannah Reuben losing her Women’s Freestyle 76kg fight to Mongolia’s Enkh-Amaryn Davaanasan in the round of 16.
The Giant of Africa registered for 12 events but failed to translate its continental dominance at the Olympics. A series of heartbreaking losses and administrative lapses have seen Nigeria return home without a medal, similar to previous Games in which the country won no medal.
President Bola Tinubu approved N12 billion for the country’s outing at the Olympics and the Paralympics, with N9bn earmarked for the former and N3bn budgeted for the latter.
One of Nigeria’s medal hopefuls was Favour Ofili, who had banked on track and field events to win medals. However, she could not make a podium finish and cried profusely after. But the medals were gone at this time.
The case with world women’s hurdle record holder Tobi Amusan was even worse. Primed to finish on the podium in hurdles, her flicker of hope was extinguished surprisingly at the semis, and she waited in vain to get the spot at the finals for the fastest loser in the qualification stage.
Nigeria’s Ese Brume, Ruth Usoro, and Prestina Ochonogor made history by reaching the women’s long jump final, but any color of medals eluded all three.
In the 200m, Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike reached the semi-final, while his compatriot Ezekiel Nathaniel also fell short in the 400m hurdles. Nigeria’s joy in the 4x400m men’s event was cut short despite the excellent run when they were disqualified for violating the track rules.
Nigeria’s Women Basketball D’Tigress made history in Paris, becoming the first African side (male or female) to reach the last eight of the Olympics. After putting an almighty Australia and later Canada in their places, the D’Tigress were eventually humbled by the US star-studded team 88–74.
Sports Minister React
In the wake of Nigeria’s shoddy outing at the Paris Olympics, the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, bemoaned the performance as a “disaster.”
He said the “disappointing performance….was a product of very many other things that need immediate attention” but he wasn’t specific.
“As we go back home, we must do everything to prevent future occurrences of the Paris disaster, and if this will entail the review of how people are elected to lead our sporting federations, it will be done,” he tweeted on X on Saturday.
In a previous post, JolibaLive News! analyzed why Africa teams often have a poor showing on the world sports stage despite its massive population of energetic youths. The sports minister and sports administrators on the continent may not need to look beyond those very basic recommendations.
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