Olympics
Blessing Oborududu pens emotional apology to Nigerians
One of the biggest medal hopes for Team Nigeria, Blessing Oborodudu who failed in her bid to win at least a bronze medal has penned an emotional apology to Nigerians. At the last Olympics in Tokyo three years ago, she won a silver medal.
But after raising hopes, she failed in her semi-finals bout with Nonoka Ozaki of japan. Then in the bronze medal fight, she again lost again.
She has now used her facebook wall to express apologies for the disappointment. She writes:
“To my dearest fans, friends and family.
Today I share this with a pained but yet a grateful heart. I went for the Paris 2024 Olympics with a determination to get a medal but unfortunately I lost on Tuesday while contesting for the bronze medal. I was so determined to get this one regardless of the circumstances.
“With so many demotivating factors that occurred around me, including sustaining a fracture on my femur bone that medically ruled me out completely from going to Paris by the Medical Director. I took a bold step, looking at the promises I have made to you, to my country, to myself, the hopes I pass on to the younger athletes God has blessed me to mentor per time, and as I penned down an undertaking, relieving anyone from any responsibility of whatever happens to me and taking my life in my hands, I proceeded to the Olympics.
“With this move I went to Paris with hopes and dreams. I made it to the Semi Finals. But as God would have it, I didn’t clinch on any medal. I was devastated, I felt so much pain, I still do.
“But then in the midst of it all, I began to realize certain truths, wins and blessings that had occurred for me even in this seemingly loss of mine.
“I realized that in this Olympics I actually had my best performance from all other Olympics attended, that I didn’t lose my leg completely in the process, that I had an angel in the form of Coach Happy who stood by me through it all even when I was left behind and others had proceeded to Germany without me, that I had my other coaches, Coach Purity Akuh and Coach Victor Kodei alongside my team mates praying for me, that I had fans, family and friends that supported me and celebrated me even more when I lost, that I was honored with a standing and clapping ovation as I walked out of that mat in pain, that I fought the challenges life threw at me with resilience and still made it to Paris, that I have a God who still got my back even though sometimes we might not understand why certain things happen or turn out the way it does.
“This is me saying, I am still grateful. I won. I won at life, I won at not backing down even with all the odds against me, I won at not failing you all by representing our nation on the highest sports platform in the world.
“So please don’t feel disappointed at me for not clinching a medal at least, don’t be sad for me. Instead, rejoice and be glad, cause today, we are all winners!
“My heart goes out to all other African athletes remaining, set to clinch their medals. If I could in Tokyo 2020 Olympics, you too can. We are counting on you and believe anything is possible. Africa must be seen on that table. But whatever is the outcome, Nigeria wins, Africa wins.
“One love. Special thanks to all my coaches, stakeholders and all the board members of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation, to my dear leader and mentor, Hon. Daniel Igali and the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
“A very big thank you to the Federal Ministry of Sports, for those who stood by me encouraging me to forge ahead, everyone that genuinely got my back in the process. God bless you all.”
Roy Jones Jr has been handed the Olympic gold medal he was controversially denied in 1988 in an extraordinary act of sportsmanship by the South Korean fighter who beat him.
Hall of Fame boxer Jones shared a video on Wednesday from two years ago that showed Park Si-hun visiting the American’s ranch in Pensacola, Florida to present him with the light middleweight gold medal.
“I had the gold medal, but I want to give it back to you. It belongs to you,” Park said in the video through his son, who translated.
Jones, who was overcome with emotion by the gesture, covered his face with his hand before saying: “Wow, that is crazy.”
Their match at the Seoul Olympics remains one of boxing’s most contentious moments as Jones appeared to dominate the fight but lost to Park by a 3-2 decision that drew instant criticism and sparked enduring controversy.
Despite losing the gold medal match, Jones was selected as the Val Barker Trophy winner as the best boxer of the 1988 Olympics.
Jones went on to become a four-division world champion and is regarded as one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters of all time.
“In 1988, I was robbed of the gold medal in what became one of the biggest controversies in boxing history,” Jones wrote in his Instagram post.
“By the grace of God, a couple of years ago, the man who won that medal made the trip from South Korea to my home to return it to me, feeling it was rightfully mine.
“I hope you enjoy this moment as much as I did.”
-Reuters
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U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive order on Tuesday creating a White House Olympics task force to handle security and other issues related to the 2028 Summer Olympic Games, an administration official told Reuters.
The task force, made up of members from Trump’s cabinet and government agencies, will coordinate federal, state and local government work on transportation, the official said.
It also will “streamline visa processing and credentialing for foreign athletes, coaches, officials, and media,” the official said in an email.
The United States will host the Olympics in Los Angeles in three years. Trump, a Republican who lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden, has expressed pleasure that his second term will coincide with the Olympics and the World Cup.
“During his first term, President Trump was instrumental in securing America’s bid to host the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The president considers it a great honor to oversee this global sporting spectacle in his second term,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement on Monday.
Last month organizers of the Los Angeles games released the first look at the Olympic competition schedule . The city had also hosted the Olympics in 1932 and 1984.
“The creation of this task force marks an important step forward in our planning efforts and reflects our shared commitment to delivering not just the biggest, but the greatest Games the world has ever seen in the summer of 2028,” Casey Wasserman, the chair and president of LA28, said in a statement.
–Reuters
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By DAVID LEE
Home is many places for swimmer Adaku Nwandu, who was born in China, lives in Singapore and wears the Nigeria flag on her swimsuit.
And it is at her current home in Singapore that the 17-year-old is making her debut at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH).
In the second heat of the 100m freestyle at the WCH Arena, the teenager, who has a Nigerian father and Chinese mother, led at the turn before finishing third in 1min 0.89sec – she eventually placed 59th out of 82 athletes overall.
After her race, Adaku shared with The Straits Times that she was born and raised in Shanghai, and started swimming when she was eight. Interestingly, it was ice cream that kept her in the sport.
Adaku, who still has the 50m freestyle heats on Aug 2, said: “At a school competition, I didn’t do so well and I asked my dad if we could make a deal. He said if I do better, he would buy me ice cream once every week, and that’s a promise we have kept with each other. And that’s what brought me here.”
In 2023, the family moved to Singapore due to her mother’s work posting. With her fluent Mandarin and love for Asian and spicy food, it did not take long for her to pick up Singlish and enjoy local delights like chicken rice and chilli crab.
She said: “We came here mainly because of my mother’s work, and also because the swimming scene back where I lived in China was a little bit toxic, so she also thought Singapore would be a new experience and better for my swimming.”
By then, she had already committed to representing Nigeria after its aquatics association contacted her after the National Sports Festival in Asaba, where the then 16-year-old was part of the national record-breaking women’s 4x200m freestyle relay team.
But Singapore is where she has been honing her swimming skills, as she has set her 50m and 100m freestyle long- and short-course Nigeria national records at meets here.
Noting her improvements, Singapore swimming coach and performance director Gary Tan said: “Adaku has been participating in our system for a while, and we hope it helps her develop as a swimmer and achieve what she wants while training in Singapore with her school (German European School Singapore).”
For someone who is inspired by Olympic champions David Popovici, Caeleb Dressel and Adam Peaty for “their dedication and the way they are able to take breaks for themselves to improve and get back to the water”, qualifying for Paris 2024 on ranking points was a dream come true.
Her Olympic debut was also unforgettable as her swimsuit ripped 20 minutes before her 50m freestyle heat, but she managed to finish second in her heat and 33rd out of 78th overall in 26.62 seconds, just 0.03 of a second off her personal best.
Back in Singapore, Adaku, who is in the International Baccalaureate (IB) programme at her school, realised that she needed more of such resilience to reach her goals.
The swimmer, who also plays for the school’s volleyball team, said: “I had a lot of improvement the first year I came to Singapore. But this past year has been especially hard for me with family problems and also school. The workload in my first year of IB made it hard to balance training and school.
“Especially in the next year, I want to focus more on swimming and try to get some new personal bests because this year I just plateaued. I’m looking forward to training harder and preparing for my next competition and hopefully qualify for the next Olympics.”
-Strait Times, Singapore
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