Paris Olympics: Minister admits shortcomings, vows to improve for paralympics

Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Owan-Enoh, has admitted the shortcomings of Team Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics and vowed to improve for the Paralympics.

Team Nigeria finished its campaign at the Paris 2024 Olympics without winning a single medal. Hannah Reuben was the last athlete with a chance to salvage a medal for Nigeria, but she, like her colleagues, failed on Saturday. She lost her second-round fight in women’s freestyle wrestling (76kg), losing 5-2 (Victory by points) to Mongolia’s Davaanasan Amar Enkh.

It has been a chastening Olympics for Nigerian sports, marking the country’s worst outing at the global showpiece since London 2012. Team Nigeria had hopes of winning medals, thanks to the likes of Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, and Ese Brume, but it ended in disappointment as they all faltered.

Minister Owan-Enoh, reacting to Nigeria’s disappointing outing at Paris 2024 on Sunday via a post on his X account, admitted the team failed. “The Olympic Games, Paris 2024, has ended, and I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians,” he wrote.

“I must apologise to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 (August 28 to September 8, 2024). When I assumed office as the Minister of Sports Development in August 2023, I was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions, namely the AFCON, the African Games, the Olympic, and Paralympic Games, in a matter of a few months.

“I was also reminded that the Olympic Games is the world’s supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it. As a country, we deserve more.”

Nigeria’s participation in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France, was the 18th time the country took part in the global sports competition.

Team Nigeria first participated in the Summer Olympics back in 1952 and has sent athletes to compete in every edition since then, except for the boycotted one in 1976.

Nigeria has so far won 27 medals (3 gold, 11 silver, 13 bronze), mostly in athletics and boxing, with the football team winning gold in Atlanta 1996.