I have not been able to recover from the shameful outing of Nigeria at the Paris Olympics. Watching the opening ceremony and from the demeanor of most of the athletes and the way they carried our flags, I knew that Nigeria was not ready and I feel very bad that I was not in a position to advice those responsible not to put our country in such a shameful situation.
For as best that I know, “How can you go to the Olympics without any pre-Olympics activities which is sometimes done 24 to 30 months before the main Olympics, involving athletes regionally, nationally and globally? Such engagements is meant to check the preparedness of the athletes before the main Olympics.
Before and after independence, we as a nation struggled but had Olympians, the likes of Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Rashidat Yusuf, Duncan Dokiwari and Chioma Ajunwa who won Gold in 1996 managed to come back to us with some medals no matter the color particularly in Sprints, boxing, weightlifting and football but it took a few years to scout for the young ones, prepare them in camps, groom them in an Olympic way. Then, Nigeria had many Olympic villages that were built all over the country like the National Institute for Sports (NIS) in Lagos that was established in 1974, the NIS was designed as a hub for sports development in Nigeria. It provided not just training grounds but also accommodations, coaching, and medical facilities, making it one of the first dedicated environments for athletes preparing for the Olympics and other international events in Nigeria.
Over the years, these Olympic Villages, along with other key facilities like the Obafemi Awolowo Stadium in Ibadan and the Ahmadu Bello Stadium in Kaduna, played pivotal roles in Nigeria’s Olympic success. The structured environment offered by these facilities allowed athletes to train intensively, leading to significant achievements in various sports at the Olympics particularly athletics, boxing, running, swimming, jumping etc. But this was not sustainable as it died an unnatural death due to lack of funding and support from the government.
Therefore, the nation must do something now as to savage our image before the next Olympics taking place in Los Angeles, USA in 2028 because the unity of the nation has been put into question once more because sports have been one of the very few things that are still holding the country together.
I will be over ninety (90) years old before the next Olympics and if my creator continues to keep me well and alive, for that reason then allow me to share an opinion that I have been nurturing because I have followed sports in my early years coming from a family of sports men and women.
In my wilderness type of living in my home state, Delta, I am building a holiday resort, the Nelson Mandela Gardens and Resort with a mini golf course, a lawn Tennis court that houses the basketball area, a Volleyball section, and Olympic Sized Swimming pool and having fished in streams and rivers from 8 and 12 years of age, I have known some riverine country boys and girls that can be trained to become one of the best Olympians in swimming in a couple of years. I have seen them at a very young age not only swimming in the rivers but also paddling canoes and all that is needed is not only to catch them young but training them in an Olympic facility because swimming in the stream and paddling in a river is different from swimming or paddling in an Olympic arena.
So my plan is to start the process of molding these young boys and girls early enough and I am also advising that state government and federal government should hands off building and maintenance of such facilities because most of the iconic stadiums like the Liberty stadium in Ibadan, Kaduna stadium and Surulere Stadium in Lagos are no longer serviceable.
Sometimes, it is also necessary to build schools around such facilities so as to give them some education that will help them improve on the games of their choice. The same goes for the wrestling, sprint, boxing, swimming, cycling, diving, golf, rowing, tennis etc.
The organization for the advancement of Anioma Culture (OFAC) founded by Arc. Kester Ifeadi introduced local wrestling over ten years ago into an annual cultural activity but was yet to get recognition and acceptance despite my position as the president of the organization.
Recently, I learned from the media that some huge amount of money was expended for the just concluded Olympic participation as addressed by the minister of sports, Senator John Enoch who admitted that all that was needed for the Olympics was approved by the Federal government not too long ago.
As we watched the celebration of sports at the highest level following the Paris “Miracle”, those countries that won medals have started celebrating and have also started preparing their athletes for 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles so as to improve on the color of their medals or do better that they did in Paris.
Therefore, we don’t have to wait until a few more weeks or few months to make funding available or prepare the needed infrastructure that is essential if we must consolidate on the talents of the young men and women in swimming, jumping, running, rowing, weightlifting, table tennis, taekwondo, volleyball, wrestling, golf etc.
