AFN looks at ‘positives’ as Team Nigeria returns empty-handed

The first batch of the Nigerian contingent to the just-concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games are expected to return to the country today. The Guardian learnt, yesterday, that the first set of athletes would depart the Olympics Village this morning, while the second batch will leave tomorrow.

The team of 88 athletes, which is the country’s largest contingent to the Games in recent times, is coming home after two weeks of competition without winning a single medal. This is the country’s worst outing since the London 2012 Games, where the country did not win any medal.

The Paris 2024 Olympic Games ended yesterday, with Team USA topping the charts with 126 medals comprising 40 gold, 44 silver and 42 bronze medals. The United States was closely followed by China, which made 91 medals, including 40 gold, 27 silver and 24 bronze medals.

 Kenya led the African countries on the medals table with four gold, two silver and five bronze medals, followed by Algeria, which got two gold and one bronze medals, while Botswana and Uganda won one gold and one silver medal each.
 
On Friday, Sports Minister, John Owan Enoh, promised to rejig the country’s sports infrastructure to ensure that the country performs better in future competitions.

Meanwhile, the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has said that despite not winning a medal in Paris, it took some “positives” from the Games. AFN Technical Director, Samuel Onikeku, said yesterday that some of the athletes gave a good account of themselves, though their efforts were not enough to fetch Nigeria medals.

“I am not happy that we are returning from the Paris Olympics without any medal, but I believe we took some positives from the Games,” Onikeku told The Guardian.

In Paris, U.S.-based sprinter, Favour Ofili made history as the second woman after Mary Onyali to qualify for the final of the 200m at the Olympics. She ran a new 22.05 personal season’s best to come second in her 200m semifinal heat behind reigning Olympics 100m champion, Julien Alfred, to secure one of the two automatic tickets on offer in the heat.

Ofili’s time was the fastest ever run by a Nigerian at the Games, supplanting the 22.16sec Onyali ran in Atlanta ’96 Olympics on her way to winning a bronze medal in the event.

Also at the Games, young star, Samuel Ogazi ran a new 44.41 lifetime best to make history as the first Nigerian in 36 years to qualify for the final of the 400m at the Olympics.  
 
Ogazi has been one of the star athletes of the season, and confirmed his growing profile at the biggest sporting stage in the world, the Olympics. The University of Alabama student-athlete did not just qualify for the final, he improved his lifetime best from 44.52sec to 44.50sec to qualify for the semifinal.

The last Nigerian to run in the final of the 400m was Innocent Egbunike, who ran 44.72sec to place fifth at the Seoul ‘88 Olympics, an improvement on his seventh place finish four years earlier at the Los Angeles Olympics where he and Sunday Uti became the first Nigerians to run in the final of the event.

Also at the Games Nigeria’ 400m hurdles record holder, Nathaniel Ezekiel become the first Nigerian in 12 years to qualify for the semifinals of the event at the Olympic Games. Nathaniel ran 48.38 to place second in his first-round heat behind Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke (48.17).

The last Nigerian to run in the 400m hurdles semifinal was Amaechi Morton, who was disqualified after the race at the London 2012 Olympics. Ezekiel could not fulfill his dream of becoming the first man in 40 years to run in the final of the event after Henry Amike, who placed eighth at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, USA.

Rosemary Chukwuma made it to the semifinal, though she could not hit the final to become the first Nigerian to run in the Olympic 100m final in 12 years after Blessing Okagbare at London 2012.

Nigeria’s mixed 4x400m relay team also rewrote their African record at the Paris Olympics as the quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Ifeanyi Ojeli, and Patience Okon George ran 3:11.99sec to erase the 3:12.87sec record they set in May at the World Relays in the Bahamas.

Nigeria also made history in Paris, parading three women long jumpers in the final. Ese Brume left her best for the last with a 6.76m leap to qualify for her third straight Olympic long jump final, just as Ruth Usoro jumped 6.68m in her second to hit the final.

“For the first time in the history of the Olympics, a 17-year-old Nigerian jumper, Prestina Ochonogor booked her place in the final. This is a great achievement,” Onikeku said.

Ochongor, who also made the final at the African Senior Athletics Championships in Douala, Cameroon in July, hit the final at Stade de France with her second-round leap of 6.65m.

Unlike the Tokyo Olympics, where she rescued a bronze for Nigeria when all hope for a medal was lost, Ese Brume missed the medal this time in Paris by finishing 5th in the final.