Like the Olympics of 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 1968 Mexico, 1980 Moscow, 1988 Seoul, and 2012 London, where the country won no medal Team Nigeria ended the 2024 Paris Olympics without a medal as Hannah Reuben lost her Women’s Freestyle 76kg fight early Saturday to effectively put the country’s slim hope of making the podium to rest.
Team Nigeria which went to the Olympics on the back of some great performances in qualifying events, registered for 12 events, with about 77 athletes who all failed to secure any laurel.
Prior to this Saturday’s final loss, a series of heartbreaking losses and some administrative lapses have been recorded despite the fact that President Bola Tinubu had approved N12 billion for the country’s outing at the Olympics and the Paralympics with N9bn earmarked for the major and N 3bn for the Para.
Reacting to the situation, the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh described the performances as a disaster, revealing that the Ministry did everything to prepare the athletes adequately and provide them with every financial support.
“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.
“The elections for the federations are around the corner, and it will be the perfect platform to get only those who are most eligible to lead the various sports federations.”
“Team Nigeria’s disappointing performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the country did not secure any medals does not entail being addressed just by our participation at the Olympics, but it is a product of very many other things that need immediate attention.”
“We did everything as a ministry to prepare the athletes adequately and provide them with every financial support, but unfortunately, the performance did not produce any podium finish,” Enoh lamented.
