Chioma Ajunwa, Nigeria's inaugural Olympic gold medallist, has expressed her disappointment regarding Team Nigeria's performance at the recently concluded Olympic Games in Paris, France.
This marked Nigeria's 19th participation in the Olympic
Games, yet the nation concluded the event without securing any medals, despite
the involvement of 88 athletes across 12 sports.
This outcome echoed the team's performance at the London
2012 Olympic Games, where Nigeria similarly failed to win any medals.
In her remarks on Arise News on Monday, Ajunwa characterized Team Nigeria's performance in Paris as 'unfortunate.
She said, “It’s quite disheartening that every year Nigeria
tells this kind of story. If you could remember, after the last Olympics before
this, it was still the same thing.
“You know they will keep on telling us. Oh, let them go back
to the drawing board, the drawing board we never see, and we don’t know how to
draw on the board.
“It’s quite unfortunate that we lost the whole chance. And
the athletes wasted their time, their energy, and their own personal resources.
“It is quite unfortunate that Nigeria spent so much, but
that one is not my business because we don’t spend that money when we are
supposed to spend it.”
Furthermore, Anjuwa highlighted that Nigeria’s participation
in the Olympics is not primarily focused on winning medals, but rather on
achieving unexpected and remarkable success.
“We never planted; what we saw there is exactly what we
cultivated. You cannot go to another person’s farm when you didn’t do so on
your own. Otherwise, they will call you a thief,” Anjuwa said.
“Every year, Nigeria aims to go and ‘thief’ medals.”
Immediately after the closure of the Olympics, every country will go back and
start planning because it’s a four-year event. They’ve given every country the
time to plan for their athletes to train, but here we go back to our comfort
zone, celebrate the money we made there, and invest in personal things instead
of planning on how the country will move forward.
“I cried like a baby when Ofili finally came in sixth and
our highest medal hope Tobi Amusan missed [going to the final].”
Anjuwa also called for a comprehensive review of the sports
departments and an end to the practice of reassigning administrators without
addressing underlying issues.
“One potential area for improvement within the Federal
Government lies in the sports department. It may be beneficial to reassess the
current administrative structure and consider replacing individuals who lack
the necessary expertise and experience.
By appointing qualified and passionate individuals to these
positions, we can enhance the overall effectiveness and efficiency of the
sports department. This approach would ensure that those in leadership roles
possess a deep understanding of sports and can make informed decisions that
contribute to the success and development of the sector.”
In light of Nigeria’s disappointing performance at the
recent games, the Honorable Minister of Sports, John Enoh, issued a formal
statement on [Date]. In this statement, the Minister expressed his sincere
apologies to the Nigerian people and pledged to conduct a comprehensive review
of the performances of athletes, coaches, and administrative personnel.
“It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations,
and hopes of Nigerians. I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what
went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 (August
28–September 8th),” the statement reads in part.