Connect with us

National Issues

TRUE CAUSE OF THE WOEFUL PERFORMANCE OF TEAM NIGERIA IN THE JUST CONCLUDED LONDON OLYMPIC GAME 2012.

Published

on

OpinionNigeria london olympic 2012

Being referred to as the giant of Africa is more of a charade and dream than it is reality for everyone of us in the country. If America is referred as giant of the world, it could be accepted by other countries of the world because they(America) try to measure up to that billing. But Nigeria, maybe is our population or our natural resources that gave us the “acclaimed” giant of Africa.

Countries such as South Africa, Kenya amongst other few African countries has totally displayed special attribute that makes a country great and unique in the eyes of the world, in an event as big as the Olympic, where over two hundred countries participated. The Nigeria’s flag was not hoisted neither was the national anthem sang. Nothing at all to shows that Nigeria was present at the event, unless for the immaterial appearance during the opening ceremony when every country was introduced.

The just concluded London Olympic has a total of 38 games and Nigeria was only able to come up with about 51 participants to compete in 8 games, in a country of over 170 million people hugely blessed with raw talents. The Sport Administrators and the Sports Minister who together assembled the team, gave Nigerians the impression that the contingents will come back with medals when they very much know that their input was not enough to generate any medal. They lied to Nigerians, they deceived Nigerians, they embarrassed Nigerians and they squandered the tax payers money.

Advertisement

Little or no preparation showed a great deal in the “Team Nigeria camp”. While many other nations, 3 or 4 years ago began their preparation towards the Olympic, committing great resources, time and energy which was visible in their performances at the event, Nigeria only began theres barely 4 months to the game. Countries like America, China, Great Britain(The host) amongst others who new that the Olympic is another opportunity and platform to once again assert there dominance, showcase there unwavering talent and how powerful a nation they are. They know what they wanted from the Olympic and are ready to do the right thing to achieve total success and, try as much as possible to make a statement that in everything and anything they will never be push-over. Nigeria was struggling with one contingency to another, leaders squandering money meant for preparing the team, organizing lesser grade competitions for our athletes.

Corruption is key factor that killed the dream of Team Nigeria in the just concluded Olympic. Tribalism and favoritism inputed greatly to the many loses. There are true talents wasting in the country, individuals who are ready to work hard, who fervently pray for a little window of opportunity to show the world what they can do, but for the single reason of not accepting to share their money with the man-in-charge or pay heavily just to have a trial, they were left out. Nigeria Sport Administrators can only have you represent this country if you have a godfather who is ready to put few words across whether or not you have the natural talent or the desire to be in that particular sport.

It is only in Nigeria, you will have to fill an application form stating your origin, town, language and even your tribe. The sentiment in selecting Nigerian sporting men and women is also a great contributor to our total fiasco in Olympics, a situation where they give preference to geopolitical zones.

Advertisement

It is only in Nigeria that prayers are required from her citizens to aid the performance of there sports men and women during any event, be it football or athletics. When you fail to plan, you plan to fail there are no two ways about it.

In these part of the country where we have individuals priding themselves of being great Politicians but are not able to showcase it in the international stage. While other nations go to competitions such as Olympic with all they’ve got, to sway decision to their favor, Nigeria Sport Administrators or Politicians go to such events with there families and friends for jamboree. So many excuses has been giving for our lackadaisical performance in Olympic games, some being that the contingents are not abreast of the ever changing rules, regulations and scoring points. This make one to begin to wonder why we have representatives in international stage. What are they doing there? What do they think are their role of being there? Are they not supposed to know whether or not a new rule or whatever has been introduced?

It is a shame, a disappointment and a big embarrassment to the nation. I would advice that they stay clear off their popular “going back to the drawing board” slogan and follow the world blueprint to achieve success in any of the next world event. The end of these London Olympic game 2012 signals the beginning of preparation for countries who are ready to make a statement in Brazil Olympic 2016 games. Nigeria must follow the rhythm if they want to avoid another national disgrace.

Advertisement
Continue Reading
Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Facebook

Trending Articles