Olympics
What are Nigeria’s expectations at Paris 2024?
Exactly one week ago this Friday, it was 72 years since Nigeria debuted at the Olympic Games in Helsinki. Since that July 19 date in 1952, Nigeria has featured in every edition of the Summer Olympic Games except that of Montreal in 1976 which the country boycotted along with some African and Asian countries.
Paris 2024 is therefore Nigeria’s 18th outing. What are the expectations of Nigeria? The desire to compete; the skills to excel, the courage to overcome and the strength to believe are the qualities of true sportsmen and great Olympians.
These are what Sports Village Square expects from Team Nigeria as Paris 2024 officially opens this Friday.
Sadly, the qualities articulated above are not well reflected in Nigeria’s participation in the Olympic Games, where the country appears just to make up the numbers.
No conscious effort to surpass previous marks. Hence, the country cannot look back to many memorable achievements in what is universally acknowledged as the greatest show on earth.
Nigeria obviously does not rank among the super powers in the Olympics and also not among the best ranked African countries at the Games.
These are the pictures Team Nigeria must strive to wipe off at the Paris 2024.
Somehow, Nigeria’s performances since Helsinki Games in 1952 have not reflected the spirit of the Olympic Games’ Motto: Citius – Altius – Fortius (Swifter – Higher -Stronger).
Sports Village Square’s study of Nigeria’s participation at the Olympics shows that a poor one often follows a fair outing.
Perhaps, few examples are necessary. The bronze medal that Nojeem Maiyegun won at the 1964 Tokyo Games was followed by a fruitless outing at the 1968 Games in Mexico.
After another bronze medal by Isaac Ikhouria at the Munich 1972 Games, Nigeria had a scandalous and barren-medal outing at the next appearance – the Moscow 1980 Games.
No medal was won at the 1988 Games after the lone silver and bronze medals at the Los Angeles 1984. The trend only changed when in Atlanta ’96, with two gold a silver and three bronze medals, proved a better outing than the preceding Barcelona ’92.
Yet the feat at Atlanta could not be matched at the Sydney 2000. Athens 2004 proved a return to the sad old cycle as Nigeria won just two bronze medals.
After the Barcelona ’92 Olympics, the nation went into jubilation over the four medal count achieved. A good result it was when compared with past achievements since the Helsinki 1952 debut.
The four-medal count comprising a bronze and three silver medals brought Nigeria’s count in 11 editions to eight medals. With medals of 1964, 1972, 1984, 1992 and 2004 added up, they are a mere fraction of what Kenya won at the Seoul 1988 Olympics alone.
The East Africans who have a fair control of the endurance races had a haul of five gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the Seoul 1988 Games.
Since 2000 Games, Nigeria has not won an Olympic gold medal. The three silver and two bronze medals achievement at Beijing 2008, which were an improvement on the two bronze medals at Athens 2004 was immediately followed by a barren outing at London 2012.
At Rio 2016, Nigeria returned with just a bronze medal. That single bronze medal completes Nigeria’s cycle of fluctuating fortunes. It is time to put an end to this.
One step towards achieving this is to glean intelligent reports that could aid better performances for Team Nigeria at the Olympics.
Allen Dulles, the CIA Director during the celebrated Bay of Pigs episode in the near war between US and Cuba in the early 1960s, remarked that “intelligence is probably the least understood and most misrepresented of the diplomatic profession.”
In short, he meant to say that all nations spy. One can add that sports teams also spy at potential and actual opponents.
Even though espionage is often linked with sinister activities, to those in international relations, this is a misconception. A bit of spying is necessary to adjust to the right situations if one is to achieve the best possible goal.
This is in sports as it is in relations among nations. Intelligent reports are gleaned on other contestants and opponents – both actual and potential.
This is what Team Nigeria appears yet to employ in place of shooting-in-dark approach in preparation for multi-discipline games. We should ask ourselves the salient question: what do others do that make them table-toppers always.
To achieve the status of an Olympic contender requires long and dedicated training. The burning desire to excel over others creates a champion.
Countries that have succeeded at the Olympics put up serious long and short-term planning. Nigeria’s preparation for most Games is often towards the commencement of the sporting fiestas. Olympic champions are not made that way.
One recalls the Barcelona ’92 Olympics, the very first that this reporter attended.
US at the games, topped the medals’ chart and in spite of the country’s upswing and a total medal count of 108 – the third highest in the games’ history at the time, – the Americans were worried that the figures could be misleading.
They were conscious that over half of their medals came from athletics and swimming out of the 22 sports entered for. They began a review of strategies to be employed at future games. They planned to upgrade other sports federations.
Still making Barcelona ‘92 a focal point, one recalls the situation regarding Spain, a nation not rated among the super athletics performers.
At Barcelona ’92 Games, their 22-medal count was a result of a four-year programme in which $120 million was spent on competitors and coaches.
The programme was aimed at changing Spain’s poor sports image. At the preceding Seoul ’88 Games, Spain won pitiable four medals. They went to the drawing board. “We wanted to give the world an image of Spain’s dynamic and modern trend, not only for folklore”, said the then sports minister, Hanvier Navarro, at a press conference at the close of Barcelona ’82.
For Spain, more than a dozen of coaches were imported from Cuba and the western bloc. They came as teachers in boxing, volleyball, archery, cycling etc.
They coached over 800 athletes who got subsidy of $80,000 a year for four years. In addition, a one million dollar pension scheme from a Spanish bank was planned for each gold medallist when he clocked 50. The money reportedly came from an insurance policy with an American firm which was to pay for each medal.
Such direct aid to sports is what Nigerian sports deserve to make great impact and produce great Olympians.
It is pertinent to find out how Australia managed to improve on their medals count over many Olympic Games. At Seoul ’88 for instance, Australia had 14 medals which progressively improved to 27 at Barcelona ’92, 41 at Atlanta ’96 and 58 at Sydney 2000.
At Athens 2004, their medal count was 49, though a drop from the previous 58, the Australians up till Tokyo 2020 have managed to be in the top 10 bracket of the final medals tables.
Australia is taken as a case study since using US, Russia and China may be going to the extreme owing to their overwhelming control of the Olympic Games final medals tables.
A study of organisation and funding of sports in Australia showed that the Australian Sports Institute awarded 600 scholarships a year and funded full-time coaches.
The Australian Institute of Sport is a high performance sports training institution. Since being established in 1981, it has seen the country shooting up in the Olympics medals tables.
If we may ask: what has become of Nigeria’s National Institute of Sports established about the same time as that of Australia?
Nigeria’s low performance at the Olympics may have also stemmed from the fact that the country is not taking advantage of its natural endowments.
One wonders why Nigeria has not considered investing in swimmers and aquatic-based athletes from the Niger Delta Region where water is their natural habitat.
The region should be producing not just gold medal winners in Africa, but also contenders at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games.
The multinational oil firms that impaired on the people’s natural economic activities and also made swimming impossible in the region can contribute in raising athletes and funding the maintenance of pools.
The control of the overall medals tables at African Games and the Olympics is mainly from the water-based sports. This will help to revive the latent talents in swimming which always account for the bulk of medals in most Games.
We have a choice to make whether to win few medals in the popular sports, or go for the lesser-known ones which fetch more medals and impart more on the overall tables.
Canoeing, may be a way of life in the river-side areas of Nigeria, but as a sport, it is insignificant. But the relatively unknown Nigerians won four gold medals for the country in this unrated sports discipline in the country at the Rabat 2019 African Games.
Imagine the return on investment on the two athletes, Ayomide Bello and Goodness Foloki that won the four medals.
This brings to the fore, the application of the principle of comparative advantage in sports. As in international trade, Nigeria should look into those sports, even if not popular, that are indigenous to its citizens to make marks in multi-discipline games.
We have seen our strength in wrestling and weightlifting. These are not popular sports by Nigerians’ reckoning, but they brought glory.
The US, China and Russia that always top medals tables at the Olympics don’t rely on football or any other team event that only contribute to shooting up contingents’ sizes and expenditure without having corresponding impact on overall medal achievements.
Archery, canoeing, rowing, diving and equestrian sports among others are indigenous to some parts of Nigeria and the indigenes are naturally endowed.
Canoeing for instance, is part of normal life in the riverside areas. We saw what we did in that sport at Rabat 2019 where Nigeria won four gold medals to be second to South Africa that had eight.
Investing in that sport may breed future Olympic champions. Archery and horsemanship are indigenous to the North.
If the Tony Ikazoboh’s proposal of decentralising sports federations instead of their clustering in the federal capital is accepted; an association for archery and equestrian sports should be located in the North where talents abound. While swimming federation should be located in the South South.
Walking has become a way of life in Nigeria. With proper teaching of the rules, talents for the Olympic Games will not be in short supply in Lagos area and other urban centres where chaotic transport system has created the enabling environment for prospective Olympic medallists in walking.
In summary, Nigeria should make concrete efforts at identifying the reasons why other countries perform well at the Olympics and how the country too can excel.
The Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will feature an increase in women’s soccer teams from 12 to 16, while the men’s competition will be downsized from 16 to a dozen teams, the International Olympic Committee said on Wednesday.
The decision was part of several changes to the Olympic event programme, including more mixed events across various sports and all team sports featuring at least the same number of women’s and men’s teams.
The IOC said the reason for the sharp increase in women’s soccer teams was the rapidly growing popularity of women’s team sports, especially in the United States, and that change in the competition format reflected that rapid growth.
“We wanted to do something to reflect that growth and equally with the United States being the home of the highest level of popularity of women’s football,” IOC sports director Kit McConnell told a press conference.
He said the IOC had discussed the issue with both LA Games organisers and world soccer’s governing body FIFA before going through with the changes.
The total number of players — men’s and women’s — would not change.
The United States, who will also host the 2026 men’s and the 2031 women’s World Cup, have won five Olympic gold medals in the women’s competition.
The men’s teams use mostly under-23 players at Olympic Games.
The LA Games will have a total of 351 medal events in all sports, 22 more than at Paris 2024 Olympics.
Several sports, including archery, athletics, golf and gymnastics will be adding new mixed-team events, with the total number of athletes unchanged at 10,500.
The five sports proposed by the LA Games organising committee — baseball/softball, cricket, flag football, lacrosse and squash — will have an extra 698 quota places.
-Reuters
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BY JAVIER CARRO.
A young African woman. At the summit of modern Olympism, Kirsty Coventry takes on the challenge of occupying the most powerful position in the world of sport with plenty geopolitical roadblocks ahead for the newly-elected IOC president.
At 41 years old, Coventry was the winner by absolute majority after surpassing the other six candidates, which automatically makes her the tenth leader to take the reins of the International Olympic Committee in 130 years of history.
Now she has the challenge of leading the movement in an era of digital transformation, political responsibilities, and growing environmental concerns.
“A new era demands new leaders,” said the outgoing leader Thomas Bach at the beginning of the session, something that many saw as the German’s final push for his favourite candidate.
It was time for a woman, a woman who would occupy the chair once held by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games and a declared misogynist who believed that women’s only role in this arena was to crown the champions with laurel.
Coventry is congratulated by members of the IOC after being elected. GETTY IMAGES
After her victory, the Zimbabwean addressed the audience to express her gratitude: “Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thanks to all the candidates; this has been an incredible race, making us better and strengthening our movement. I am confident that when we unite, we can develop the ideas we share. Thank you so much for this honour.”
The current Zimbabwean Minister of Sports, an Olympic swimming champion in 2004 and 2008, Coventry ascended to the highest chair in the IOC with a discreet presence but the unstoppable momentum of a history-maker.
Not only is she the first woman to hold this position, but she is also the first African and the youngest president since Pierre de Coubertin.
With Coventry, Africa reaches the Olympic summit for the first time. Until now, all IOC leaders had been European, except for American Avery Brundage.
Bach, the German who championed gender parity at the Paris Olympics, considers his mission of equality fulfilled with her succession.
Under his tenure, the IOC Assembly increased its female membership from less than 20% to 44%, with 48 women now part of the organization.
It is widely inferred that female votes played a crucial role in Coventry’s election. Additionally, 81 members—three-quarters of the Assembly—were elected under Bach’s leadership.
“Women are ready to lead,” the new president recently stated, anticipating the moment of glory she now embraces. She remains one of the most outstanding figures in African sports history and the most decorated African Olympian, with seven medals from Athens 2004 and Beijing 2008 (two gold, four silver, and one bronze). After retiring from competition, she served as Zimbabwe’s Minister of Sports while also chairing the IOC’s Athletes’ Commission, one of the most influential bodies within the Committee.
She parlayed those credentials into a leadership position where she will need to be adept at integrating athletes’ perspectives and strengthening inclusion within the Olympic movement. Her leadership of the Commission and her role on the Executive Board have made her a prominent figure, especially in an era where diversity and gender equality are alleged priorities.
Although she will not officially assume the presidency until June 23, when Bach steps down, Coventry will soon have to tackle major issues. These include the reintegration of Russia into the Olympic Games, the economic challenges faced by the World Anti-Doping Agency due to US budget cuts, the participation of transgender athletes in elite competitions, the loss of several major Olympic sponsors, the negotiation of broadcasting contracts, and the selection of a host city for the 2036 Games.
The most pressing challenge she faces is the controversial issue of transgender athletes being allowed to compete in elite sports. The IOC currently permits their participation, but the lack of a universal standard has sparked polarising reactions worlwide. Coventry has taken a conservative stance on this matter, seeking not to rewrite existing rules but to encourage cooperation among federations to establish a common framework.
“I do not support transgender athletes competing in the Olympics against female athletes, as it is unfair to them. Ensuring fairness in women’s sports is essential,” she stated firmly, as she believes that “trans women have an inherent physical advantage in female categories, which potentially reduces equitable opportunities for biological women.”
Similarly, Coventry has promised a strong stance on addressing gender inequality in leadership roles, arguing that women should not be an exception in the sports world. While progress has been made toward gender equality, she acknowledges that there is still much work to be done. “At Paris 2024, we achieved gender parity in competition, but in federations and national committees, the gap remains significant,” she warned. “It is not just about increasing the number of women in sports but ensuring they have a voice and a vote in key positions. Female leadership should not be the exception but the norm within sports organisations,” Coventry added.
Another major issue Coventry will need to address is the ongoing war in Ukraine, which has left Russian and Belarusian athletes in a competitive limbo for several years.
She will have to navigate the delicate matter of Russia’s return to the Olympic stage. Since the country’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, the IOC banned the Russian Olympic Committee, allowing only a select group of athletes to compete as neutrals in Paris 2024.
However, full reintegration remains a contentious issue, requiring a balance between diplomacy and sporting integrity.
Whether Russia can return in time for Milano Cortina 2026 is likely to be one of the defining topics of her presidency once she officially takes office in three months.
Coventry’s position on these matters remains somewhat ambiguous. In recent statements, she said, “Our duty as the IOC is to ensure that all athletes can participate in the Games. This is not just about the major wars and conflicts in Europe and the Middle East; there are also wars and conflicts in Africa.
“ If I am elected President of the IOC, I will establish a task force to develop guidelines to help us manage these periods of conflict, prioritising athletes’ interests.”
On the positive side, the new IOC boss will inherit an organisation in a robust financial position; therefore, billions seem secured in media rights and sponsorship deals.
Bach’s departure comes at a time when it guaranteed $7.3 billion (€6.7bn) in revenue from broadcasting, partnerships, and other sources for the 2025–28 cycle, along with $6.2 billion (€5.7bn) already locked in for 2029–32.
Last week, the IOC also announced a $3 billion (€2.7bn) extension of its Olympic media rights agreement with NBCUniversal in the United States until 2036.
However, the recent departure of several sponsors, such as Japanese giants Toyota and Panasonic, has fuelled calls for changes to its commercial structure.
Yet, financial stability does not guarantee smooth sailing in a landscape where sport is increasingly shaped by politics, technology, and shifting social expectations.
To balance financial growth with the fundamental values of the Olympic movement, Coventry believes that “it is about finding ways to ensure that, above all, we take care of our stakeholders to deliver incredible multi-sport events at the highest level.
“Yes, this requires more money, and we must find ways to make it sustainable. For example, when engaging with host cities, we are adapting the model to what they already have.
“We no longer demand the construction of new venues because that is no longer viable. This shift helps increase revenue while controlling.”
Coventry joined the Olympic assembly 12 years ago as an athletes’ representative and was later renewed as a permanent member.
Since then, Bach has kept her by his side, granting her positions of increasing responsibility.
She currently chairs the coordination commissions for the Dakar 2026 Youth Games and the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games, among other roles she will have to relinquish upon assuming the presidency.
Her ascent to the Olympic throne breaks the glass ceiling of the IOC and marks the beginning of a new era in the sporting world.
“I will make you feel proud and confident in the decision you have made today,” proclaimed Coventry after her landslide victory
-Inside The Games
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History has been made at the International Olympic Committee (IOC) as Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry becomes the president as the first woman and African to do so.
Two decades after winning her first Olympic gold in Greece, Kirsty Coventry was victorious again in the Mediterranean country as she was elected as the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) first female president on March 20.
The 41-year-old Zimbabwean, a former swimmer who won the women’s 200m backstroke at Athens 2004 before retaining it at Beijing 2008, also becomes the IOC’s first African president.
Coventry, who also has four Olympic silvers and a bronze, will serve an eight-year term, with the possibility of a four-year extension.
“This is an extraordinary moment. As a nine-year-old girl I never thought that I would stand up here one day, getting to give back to this incredible movement of ours,” Coventry said.
“This is not just a huge honour but it is a reminder to every single one of you that I will lead this organisation with so much pride, with the values at the core and I will make all of you very, very proud and, I hope, extremely confident in the decision you’ve taken today.
“Thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Coventry succeeds 71-year-old German Thomas Bach, who steps down after a 12-year reign and has been named honorary president.
Strongly believed to be Bach’s favoured candidate, Coventry was thought to be in a tight-run race with IOC veteran Juan Antonio Samaranch Jr of Spain and World Athletics’ British chief Sebastian Coe.
However, to general surprise, the most powerful job in world sport reached its conclusion after just one round of voting at a luxury seaside resort in Greece’s south-western Peloponnese, with a majority of the IOC members placing their faith in Coventry to meet the serious challenges that lie ahead.
She secured 49 votes, the majority required from the 97 possible votes, with zero abstentions.
Samaranch Jr and Coe had 28 and eight votes respectively, while Frenchman David Lappartient (four), Japan’s Morinari Watanabe (four), Jordan’s Prince Feisal Al-Hussein (two) and Swedish-born Johan Eliasch (two) completed the field.
-Reuters/Xinhua
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