Nigeria has ended the 2024 Paris Olympics without a medal. 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. She lost 5-2 to Mongolia’s Enkh-Amaryn Davaanasan in the round of 16 tie, capping off a woeful showing for the West African nation.
Team Nigeria went to the Olympics on the back of some great performances in qualifying events. They registered for 12 events, but sadly – like previous Games – failed to translate its continental dominance at the Olympics.
The country took about 77 athletes to the Games in Paris but a series of heartbreaking losses and some administrative lapses have seen Nigeria return home without a medal. The last time that happened was at the London Games in 2012.
President Bola Tinubu had approved N12 billion for the country’s outing at the Olympics and the Paralympics. N9bn was earmarked for the former while N 3bn was budgeted for the latter.
In the wake of Nigeria’s poor outing at the Paris Olympics, the Minister of Sports Development John Enoh described the performances as a disaster.
“Yesterday, I met with gentlemen of the press at the Nigerian Embassy in Paris for a press briefing following the country’s participation in the 2024 Olympics. 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,” he wrote on his X handle on Saturday.
“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,”
Nigeria’s showing at the Paris Games was replicated in 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 1968 Mexico, 1980 Moscow, and 1988 Seoul where the country won no medal.
Tracks and Field Dreams In Tatters
Going into the Games, Team Nigeria had banked on athletics, one of the country’s dominant areas, to rake in the medals.
Favour Ofili had made history as the first Nigerian since Atlanta 1996 to reach the semi-final of the 200m. Despite her season’s best of 22.05 seconds in the semi-finals, she could not make a podium finish.
In the 200m, Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike reached the semi-final while his compatriot Ezekiel Nathaniel also fell short in the 400m hurdles in the same stage.
Nigeria’s joy in the 4x400m men’s event was cut short after they were disqualified from the race for a violation of the rules. The quartet of Emmanuel Ojeli, Ezekiel Nathaniel, Dubem Amene, and Chidi Okezie finished heat 2 with a Season’s Best time of 2 minutes 59.81 seconds.
However, one of the Nigerians was said to have crossed lanes leading to the tripping of a South African athlete. The West African nation’s spot was thereafter given to South Africa.
Medal Hopefuls Disappoint
Before then, world record holder Tobi Amusan was primed to finish on the podium in hurdles. She had a strong showing in the women’s 100m hurdles heat. But that flicker of hope was extinguished after she lost in the semi-final of the event.
The Nigerian was third in her heat, finishing in a time of 12:55 seconds. She missed out on the automatic qualifying spots with her hopes of entering the final as one of the best losers also gone. That was because her time was insufficient to make the cut.
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