‘Why Nigerian Cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye Borrowed Bicycle From Germany For 2024 Olympics’

The Minister of Sports, John Enoh, has provided clarification on why Nigerian cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye, had to depend on a borrowed bicycle to compete in one of the races of the 2024 Olympics.

The Minister explained that Team Nigeria was not expected to participate in the particular race; hence no prior preparation was made ahead of the games.

Enoh said a communication was received from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) reallocating additional slots to the Cyclist Federation of Nigeria (Kerin and individual sprint) after the team had already left for the Olympics.

The reallocation to Nigeria was due to the disqualification of a country, leaving Nigeria as the next eligible to make the list of qualified countries to compete, he added.

The newly allocated race would, however, require a specialized type of bicycle which would take months to have it delivered after ordering and making payment. To therefore get Ese to compete, the Nigerian Federation, through Ese’s Club in Europe and working with a German-owned Company, got a ‘Track Bike’ for the athlete’s use.

“My attention has been called to a post on social media by Ese Ukpeseraye. After reading the post and some follow-up comments I swung into action. Ese’s post seems to have been grossly misunderstood, perhaps also because it didn’t seem to give proper context to the matter in perspective. It is important I make some clarifications.

“Abinitio, Team Nigeria qualified for one road race in cycling and prepared for it in terms of training and the appropriate competition equipment. Team Nigeria was fully prepared for this road race until two weeks ago after the Cycling team with the rest of Team Nigeria had already left for the Olympics, that a communication from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) was received reallocating additional slots to the Cyclist Federation of Nigeria (Kerin and individual sprint). This reallocation to Nigeria was due to the disqualification of a country, leaving Nigeria as the next eligible to make the list of qualified countries to compete. Unfortunately, this additional slot required the use of a different competition equipment in terms of biking.

“For this track race reallocated to Team Nigeria, a very special equipment (approved specifically for the Olympic track game) is used. It’ll take months to have it delivered after ordering and making payment. To therefore get Ese to compete, the Federation through Ese’s Club in Europe and working with a German owned Company, got a ‘Track Bike’ for our cycler Ese,” the statement explaining the situation as posted by the Minister via his X account reads.

Naija News reports the Minister’s explanation follows the disquiet which followed an earlier post by Eze in which she revealed that she had to borrow a bicycle from her German counterpart to compete in the Keirin and Sprint events at the 2024 Olympics.

Taking to her X page, Ukpeseraye revealed that the short notice given to her left her without a bicycle to race with on the tracks.