UPDATED: It’s Official: Nigeria finishes Paris Olympic Games with no medal

For the eighth time in Olympic history, Nigeria’s athletes will return home empty-handed, as Team Nigeria concluded its Paris 2024 Olympic campaign without a single medal on Saturday.

88 athletes featured across 12 sports for Nigeria at the Paris Olympic Games.

On Saturday, Hannah Reuben, Nigeria’s last hope, lost her second-round women’s freestyle wrestling match 5-2 to Mongolia’s Davaanasan Amar Enkh, sealing the country’s worst Olympic outing since London 2012.

Nigeria’s Olympic struggles date back to Helsinki in 1952, with subsequent disappointments in Melbourne in 1956, Rome in 1960, and a brief respite at Tokyo in 1964, where Nojeem Mayegun won Nigeria’s first Olympic medal. The drought continued in Mexico City in 1968, Moscow in 1980, and Seoul in 1988, before the latest disappointment in Paris.

Fruitful outings

After breaking the jinx at the 1964 Tokyo Games, Nigeria’s next Olympic medal was another bronze medal at the 1972 Olympic Games.

However, the country boycotted the 1976 Olympics in Canada.

Nigeria won two medals at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics – a silver and a bronze.

This was followed by a remarkable performance at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, where the country won three silver and one bronze medal.

The 1996 Atlanta Olympics remains Nigeria’s best outing, with two gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.

This success was followed by a gold and two silver medals at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.

In 2004, Nigeria won two bronze medals in Greece but improved its performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympics with three silver and two bronze medals.

At the 2016 Rio Olympics, Nigeria won a solitary bronze medal in men’s football before claiming a silver and bronze medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, held in 2021.

Paris Positives

Despite the lack of medals in Paris, there are positives to build upon as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games countdown begins.

Nigeria showed improvement in athletics, with six finalists, up from four in Tokyo 2020 and two in Rio 2016.

Favour Ofili, inexplicably excluded from the 100m event, made history as the first Nigerian woman to reach the 200m final since Mary Onyali achieved the feat at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

Also, 18-year-old Samuel Ogazi became the first Nigerian man to reach the 400m final since Innocent Egbunike’s 1988 feat at the Seoul Olympics.

The Long Jump Trio of Ese Brume, Ruth Usoro, and Prestina Ochonogor also made history as the first time three Nigerians reached the final in one event.

Additionally, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi finished sixth in the Shot Put event final, a notable achievement.

These achievements and a handful of others offer hope for Nigeria’s Olympic future as the country will try to build on them and break its medal drought in Los Angeles in 2028.