Olympics
‘No retirement yet’, yells seven-time Olympian, Funke Oshonaike
According to BBC, Nigerian table tennis player Funke Oshonaike remains proud of her efforts in Tokyo as she became the first African woman to compete at seven Olympics.
She also became the first female table tennis player to appear at seven Olympics and while she has ruled out an eighth Games she is not retiring just yet.
The 45-year-old exited Tokyo at the preliminary stage on Saturday as she was beaten by Liu Juan of the United States at the delayed Games.
“Overall, I think I’ve done exceedingly well at these Olympics. To get another opportunity to represent my country at the Olympics is special and I can only just stay proud,” she told BBC Sport Africa.
“I may have lost early but I have to count my blessings, to attain a seventh Olympics as the first woman from Africa to do so is a remarkable thing for my career.
“Just think of it by multiplying four years by seven, then to be a part of this unbelievably special Olympics in Tokyo.
“Being the first African, first woman in Table Tennis to do it seven times, puts everything into proper perspective for me, so I have to be grateful.”
Oshonaike first started playing table tennis at the age of 14, and just two years later she was part of Nigeria’s team for the 1991 All Africa Games.
She made her Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996. She then went on to play at the 2000 Sydney Games, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Inspired at Rio
The 25-time Nigerian table tennis champion has now equalled the record of compatriot Segun Toriola as the only Africans with seven Olympic appearances.
It was at the previous Games in South America, where she was Team Nigeria’s flag-bearer, that she decided to aim for a seventh appearance and join the exclusive table tennis club of seven, comprising of male players.
As well as Toriola the others to compete in table tennis at seven Olympics are: Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive, Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Sweden’s Jorgen Persson.
“I was motivated and pushed when I saw my compatriot Segun Toriola at the Rio Games being honoured and I realised this a table of men,” she added.
“I said to myself that there are only men in this club, it’s all I needed to change my mindset and stay in shape to attain same landmark.
“I endured a challenging five years mentally, physically and emotionally, all of this when I still had to deal with qualification for the Tokyo Games.
“After qualification, the coronavirus pandemic happened and then doubts started creeping in, I said probably it was not meant to be, then the cancelation happened.
“But here we are, a tough journey and I can finally say that I have completed the Olympics circle in a special way and at a special Games in Tokyo.”
The future
After 30 years competing at the highest level, becoming an 11-time All African Games medallist and a three-time International Table Tennis Federation Africa Senior Championships winner, Oshonaike admitted she has given her all to the Olympics.
“I guess the next time you see me at the Olympics, I’ll probably be an official or watching as a spectator because I am done,” she explain to the BBC.
“The Olympic Games has been good to me. But now I need to focus on helping the younger ones attain their dream. I will keep playing and giving my best.
“I will be the first to walk away if I can no longer keep up the pace or give my best on the table.”
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
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Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
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