Paris 2024: Nigeria’s Olympic struggles continue as three athletes fall in semi-final races

Day 12 of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games saw Team Nigeria’s chances of winning medals dwindle as three athletes failed to advance to the finals in their respective events.

Men’s 400m Hurdles

Defending champion Karsten Warholm dominated heat 1 of the semi-finals, winning in 47.67s.

French athlete Clement Ducos grabbed the second automatic spot in 47.85s, while Alison Dos Santos settled for third place in 47.95s. Nigeria’s Ezekiel Nathaniel finished fifth, crossing the line in 48.65s.

Despite not advancing, Nathaniel’s performance was impressive as he is only the third athlete to make it this far at the Olympics from the country.

Men’s 200m

In heat 2 of the semi-finals, Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo surprisingly beat Noah Lyles, crossing the line in 19.96s. Lyles settled for second place in 20.08s, taking the last automatic spot.

Erriyon Knighton won the last heat in 20.09s, holding off a late push from Joseph Fahnbulleh and Tapiwanashe Makarawu.

Nigeria’s Udodi Onwuzurike came in seventh, clocking 20.72s.

Sadly, while Nigeria has no representation in the 200m final, two Zimbabwean athletes, Makanakaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu, made history by qualifying for the final, knocking out defending champion Andre De Grasse.

Charamba finished third in heat 2 with a time of 20.31s, while Makarawu finished third in heat 3, crossing the line in 20.16s.

There will now be four Africans in the final on Thursday: two from Zimbabwe, one from Liberia (Joseph Fahnbulleh), and one from Botswana (Letsile Tebogo).

Women’s 400m

Nigerian heritage Salwa Eid Naser (Bahrain) won heat 1 of the semi-finals in a season’s best time of 49.08s. Ireland’s Rashidat Adeleke took the second automatic spot, crossing the line in 49.95s.

Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino won heat 2 in 49.21s, ahead of USA’s Alexis Holmes in second place with a time of 50.00s.

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Nigeria’s Ella Onojuvwevwo finished sixth, clocking 51.05s, in her Olympic debut and first individual semi-final event at a senior championship.

Wrestling

Elsewhere, Christianah Ogunsanya lost to Khulan Batkhuyag (Mongolia) in the women’s 53kg wrestling round of 16, with a heartbreaking 1-3 (Pinfall) defeat. Ogunsanya may still have a chance to compete in the repechage if the Mongolian wrestler reaches the final.

Close moments

Team Nigeria came closest to winning a medal on Tuesday but Blessing Oborududu lost the bronze medal bout.

Nigeria’s other close moments to clinching a medal at the Paris 2024 Olympics came courtesy of Chukwuebuka Enekwechi’s sixth-place finish in the men’s Shot Put event, Favour Ofili’s sixth-place finish in the women’s 200m event, and Samuel Ogazi’s seventh-place finish in the men’s 400m final on Wednesday.

These impressive performances marked the country’s most promising attempts at securing a medal, despite ultimately falling short.