The 2024 Paris Olympics, By Reuben Abati

The Paris Olympics Games, 26 July – 11 August began on a tentative note, but it has turned out to be a memorable, successful, sensational event, which not only lived up to the billing, but was also a masterpiece showcase of French history, culture and hospitality. The French have every reason to congratulate themselves, history was made, there were emotional moments, records were broken, marriage proposals took place in the city of love and lights in what Thomas Bach, the retiring International Olympic Committee (IOC) Chairman calls “Seine-sational” – in obvious reference to the fact that the Paris Olympics, after 100 years since France last hosted it, began in the open, along the Seine River which courses through Paris.

Athletes from 184 countries marched on the Seine in 90 boats, across 3.7 miles, surrounded by dancers and serenaded by singers (French Pop star Aya Nakamura and legendary Celine Dion). Ahead of the Olympics, France had just concluded its snap parliamentary elections with fears that the febrile politics of the elections could affect the Olympics but that didn’t happen as both the far-right and the far-left in French politics buried their ideologies to receive and host the world. There were also fears about security after the attack on targets across Europe and the rising threat of terrorism and extremism. France deployed 75,000 police officers around Paris, and also got friendly countries to send troops in support. The United Kingdom contributed 50 special constables, Spain sent 142 civil guards, 171 police officers, 10 horses and dogs; the United States sent 94 police officers and the FBI; in total, 40 countries including Qatar, South Korea, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Morocco and 31 European countries contributed a support force of about 2,000 police officers in what was a statement about the value of international security operation. In the end, security did not constitute a problem. It was bon. It was magnifique.

There were a few hitches though. During the opening ceremony, there was an embarrassing mix up with the national anthems of North Korea and South Korea, the drag queen sequence and the parody of Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Last Supper” which drew the ire of the Catholic Church, Christians and which in other quarters led to death threats. During the group stage men’s basketball game between South Sudan and Puerto Rico the wrong national anthem was played for South Sudan, a gaffe that the South Sudanese did not find funny at all. At the athletics Olympics village, there were complaints about substandard food, hot accommodation and cardboard beds.

Team Great Britain ended up hiring a chef, many of the American superstars relocated to hotels. Transportation to the event venues was also inconvenient for the most part. River Seine gave the organizers grave concerns, as the heavy rain showers on opening day further polluted the water, raising the level of E-coli, making it difficult for the river to be used for the men’s and women’s triathlon. The planned games on River Seine were rescheduled, all the same, three German athletes reported that they had been infected, athletes from Belgium and Switzerland also fell ill.

But we witnessed, nonetheless, the triumph of the human spirit, the defining characteristic of the Olympics since its Athenian beginnings, and its re-invention in modern times in 1896 by Frenchman Pierre de Coubertin. Memories of the Paris Olympics will linger and endure in terms of the drama; the colourful, history-laden displays; and the use of the cityscape of France, with the Eiffel Tower looming large in the background. Andy Murray, the British tennis star, announced his retirement during the Olympics. Novak Djokovic, won the men’s tennis singles final, a gold medal at last at the Olympics, practically fulfilling a dream.

Simone Biles who had to withdraw from the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, due to a condition called “twisties” made a remarkable comeback, to win three gold medals and a silver in gymnastics and in the process, became the most decorated gymnast in American history. Suni Lee, a former Olympic all-round champion and US gymnast was diagnosed with an incurable kidney disease in 2023. In Paris, she won gold at the all-round team finals, a bronze in uneven bars and yet another bronze at the all-round competition. She did all that while battling two types of incurable kidney diseases.

Julien Alfred, 23, won the women’s 100 metres race to claim St Lucia’s first Olympics medal. She also won a silver medal in the women’s 200 metres. The tiny Caribbean-island of St Lucia, and her home town of Ciceron broke out in joyous ecstasy. Juju as she is known is now a national hero in St Lucia. Adriana Ruano, 29, won the first ever gold medal in the shooting women’s trap final for Guatemala. Kaylia Nemour, 17, made history for her country, Algeria, and for Africa by being the first from the continent to win a medal in gymnastics. Carlos Yulo, 24, of the Philippines won two gold medals in men’s floor exercise and vault – the first also for his country. Sifan Hassan became the first athlete in 72 years to win medals in the women’s 5,000 metres, 10,000 metres and marathon races; a haul of gold and two bronze medals within the space of five days, with a total distance of 62,195 kilometres covered.

History was made in the women’s floor final with the first all-black gymnastics podium ever in the Olympics, with Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade (gold), Simone Biles (silver) and Jordan Chiles (bronze). Chiles has reportedly been stripped of the bronze medal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and replaced with Romania’s Anna Barbosa who was upgraded from fourth to third but she remains a most worthy Olympian. Letsile Tebogo of Botswana won Africa’s first ever 200 metres gold at the Olympics and was the anchor of Botswana’s 4×400 metres relay team, which took silver. The Government of Botswana was so excited, the President declared a half-day public holiday in celebration On 9 August. Similarly, Leon Marchand became an instant hero in France, having won four individual gold medals in swimming. Emma Hayes, who spent 12 years managing the women Chelsea football team, winning seven WSL titles, five FA Cups, and the League Cup twice. She has just led the US Women’s football team to golden victory barely two months after she took over the US National team. The Olympics has always been about individual heroism. But it is also about national pride.

There were many special moments as well: Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles paying homage to Rebeca Andrade in a gracious and humble manner; North Korea and South Korea athletes taking a selfie together in a gesture that showed sports transcend politics. Romance blossomed too: Brazilian triple jumper Almir Dos Santos proposed to his girlfriend Talita Ramos, Massimo Bertelloni proposed to Alessia Maurelli, Liu Yuchen to Huang Yaqiong, Paton Otterdahl to Maddy Nilles, Alice Finot to Bruno Martinez, Pablo Simonet to Maria Campoy, Jean-Emmanuel Mestre to Charline Picon, Kathryn Treder to Alev Kelter, Justin Best to Lainey Duncan and so on and so forth – a firm confirmation that love is indeed in Paris. Many others who may not have won a medal found love. There were pregnant athletes in attendance too: Alysia Montano, 38, American, in the 800m race, Amber Jo Rutter of Team GB, a mum that shoots and got a silver medal in women’s Skeet and Yaylagul Ramazanova of Azerbaijan who said she felt her baby kicking as she competed in the archery event. These women athletes pushed the boundaries of possibilities at the Paris Olympics.

And there were delightful moments of laughter. French pole vaulter Anthony Ammirati’s penis knocked off the crossbar during the semi-final heat in pole vault, becoming a trending sensation as a result. He did not make it to any podium but he ended up getting a $250,000 offer from an adult entertainment company, which thought his bulge could be an asset beyond the Olympics! Algerian boxer, Imane Khelif, 25, caused quite a stir with her gender appearance, only to go on to win the gold medal in the women’s boxing welterweight category. Yusuf Dikec, 51, won a silver in the mixed team 10 metres air pistol event but he became a popular character in Paris, because of his steeze. While other shooters wore high tech gear, Dikec was nonchalant, he wore regular eye glasses, kept his left hand in his pocket and yet got a silver medal. Other athletes thought this was some form of magic and they started putting their hands in their pockets too. Yet another star attraction in Paris was Snoop Dogg, 52, American rapper and actor (real name Calvin Broadus Jnr.) who carried the Olympic torch and also worked as a broadcaster for US host, the NBC Channel. Snoop Dogg was all over the place, having fun and being himself. NBC paid him $500,000 per day. Some people are in this world just to catch cruise and enjoy. God, when?

On Sunday, 11 August, the Olympics ended on a note of great excitement, grace, pomp and satisfaction on the part of the organisers after 16 days, 329 events and 32 different sports. Tom Cruise, in a “Mission Impossible” kind of stunt abseiled from the top of the Stade de France, for the closing ceremony, giving it a feel of the surreal. He took the flag from Simone Biles and the Mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, jumped onto a motorcycle and rode out of the arena. The next Olympics in 2028, will be hosted in Los Angeles, the home town of Snoop Dogg. In this Olympics, the United States led the medals table with a total of 126 medals, followed by China with 91, Australia, 53, France 64 and Great Britain, 65.

How did Nigeria fare? We were present for the 16 days that the event lasted but we won nothing. We participated in 12 sports. We sent 88 athletes. Nigeria spent N9 billion. We came home empty-handed. We, however, made little history that may be useful for the future. Our female basketball team, D’Tigress managed by Rena Wakama, fought valiantly and got to the quarter-finals, the first time any African team would go to that far in Olympics basketball. Ms. Wakama, 32, has since been named the Best Female Basketball Coach at the 2024 Olympics by the International Basketball Federation. Samuel Ogazi made it to the 400 m Olympics final, the first athlete to do so since Innocent Egbunike did so 36 years ago. And for the first time in a long while, something very unusual, the Minister of Sports, John Enoh could boast that all the athletes representing Nigeria got their training allowances and bonuses. This is something we are supposed to celebrate.

But Nigeria’s participation was generally marred by the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and the Olympics Committee to submit Favour Ofili’s name for the 100 m race. The sheer incompetence of both bodies is not new: they did the same thing at the Tokyo Olympics 2020 denying 14 athletes the opportunity to participate in the Olympics. They have repeated the same offence this year in Paris, and the best they can do is to trade blames. Nigeria’s men’s 4 x 400 relay team was disqualified for a lane violation in the semi-final. While no Nigerian made it to the podium in Paris, it has been reported that our athletes despite not winning any medal, partied hard and ate to their heart’s content.

But the big shame was seeing Nigerians carrying the flag of other countries. Yemisi Ogunleye who won gold for Germany in shot put is from Omuo-Ekiti in Ekiti State. Samu Omorodion was part of the Spanish football team that won gold in the men’s category. He is a Nigerian. Rasheedat Adeleke, the fastest female athlete in Ireland is a Nigerian too. She was part of Ireland’s 4×4 women’s relay that came fourth. She holds Ireland’s national record in 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres, 300 metres and 400 metres. Annette Nneka Echikunwoke who won silver in Hammer Throw for the United States represented Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics but she switched to the United States because of the incompetence and corruption of Nigerian officials, and now she is described as the first American woman to win a medal in Hammer Throw. There is also Antoinette Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu (can any name be more Nigerian than that?) but she competed at the Olympics and got a silver medal not for Nigeria but Bahrain. In her case, she not only abandoned Nigeria, she even changed her name to Salwa Eid Naser to identify fully with her chosen country and new religion. There may well be other Africans who have switched loyalty to other countries. Winfred Yavi, who previously represented Kenya, but is also now a Bahraini athlete in 3,000 metres steeplechase won gold in Paris, setting the new Olympic record in that event.

Most African countries are guilty of underinvestment in sports facilities. Nigeria is worse. Those who lead the various sports Federations are corrupt and incompetent. Many of the athletes on the continent prefer to switch to other countries because there are better training facilities abroad and better rewards for talent. At the Paris Olympics, Hong Kong promised its gold medalists – $768,000; Kazakhstan offered $250,000 for gold; France – $87,000; Singapore – $745,000; Indonesia – $300,000. Sports has become big business. In a globalised world, athletes are entrepreneurs and they would, like everyone else, migrate to where they can gain the best comparative advantage for their talent. In Atlanta 1996, Nigeria won two gold medals, one silver and three bronze medals. But we have since lost the magic due to years of indolence, rascality, and the failure to treat sports as a strategic vehicle for diplomacy and national development.

Sports Minister, John Enoh says there would be consequences for the failure of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) and Nigeria’s International Olympics Committee (IOC) at the Paris Olympics. What consequences, if we may ask? The least that we can ask for is that Nigeria should begin to prepare for the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles and not wait till the very last minute. We can also probably expect that the Nigerian athletes going for the Paralympics also in Paris, from 28 August–8 September, will do much better. Nigeria does not care enough for the physically challenged among its people, but ironically, this much neglected compatriots have historically done better at the Olympics: a pungent, bitter irony of a country where the blind see better than those with eyesight, and the lame are faster than those who can walk. While Nigeria deals with its multiple dilemmas, let us tell the people and government of France: merci!

Reuben Abati, a former presidential spokesperson, writes from Lagos.