What happened to Nigeria at the Paris Olympics?

Nigerians are disappointed about their country's performance at the Summer Olympics

Originally published on Global Voices

By Adesewa Olofinko

Nigeria, a powerhouse at the African Games in Ghana from March 8 to 23, where the West African country finished second on the medal table, left the 2024 Summer Olympics empty-handed. What went wrong?

The nation of over 220 million people went to the Paris Olympics with high hopes, riding on the momentum from the African Games. Yet, the result was a shocking and disappointing reality. While Egypt, who topped the African Games medal table with 40 golds and over 100 total medals, managed to secure three medals at the Paris Olympics—including 1 gold, 1 silver, and 1 bronze —Nigeria’s tally stood at zero.

With 88 sportsmen and women representing the country at the 2024 Paris Olympics, this is the eighth time the most populous African nation has left the Olympics without a medal, just like their previous outings in Helsinki (1952), Melbourne (1956), Rome (1960), Mexico City (1968), Moscow (1980), Seoul (1988), and London (2012).

Nigeria first participated in the Olympic Games in 1952 and has sent athletes to compete in every summer Olympics games, winning a total of 27 medals in athletics, boxing, football, and wrestling — including 3 gold medals, 11 silver medals and 13 bronze medals — except for the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, Canada, which were boycotted mainly by African countries.

This year, even though some Nigerians made it through the qualifying rounds into the finals of some games, none made it to the podium. For example, Favour Ofili finished 6th in the women’s 200-metre final, and Blessing Oborududu narrowly missed out on a bronze in the 68 kg freestyle wrestling category. Additionally, Ese Brume, Ruth Usoro, and Prestina Ochonogor qualified for the long jump finals in the same round, but none finished in the top three.

Several controversies trailed Nigeria at the Olympics. For example, the cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye, the first to represent Nigeria at the Games, revealed in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that she had to borrow a bicycle from her German colleagues to participate in the competition. Similarly, Favour Ofili released a series of posts on X accusing the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) of failing to enter her for the 100 metres event. Despite this setback, she qualified for the 200 metres final, finishing 6th. 

Nigeria’s outing at the Paris Olympics has been called many names, including “embarrassing” across many social media networks. One user on X said: 

2 weeks of the Olympics and Nigeria is still sat with 0 MEDALS while all our talent win medals for other countries. Embarrassing https://t.co/scPw9tvN20

— Trey (@UTDTrey) August 7, 2024

Another user noted:

Back to the Olympics discuss and the continual embarrassment the NOC and the AFN will keep serving because I doubt this is far from over; why is Chukwuemeka Enekwechi having a repeat of the same experience from Tokyo 2021? How hard is it for them to provide him kits fgs?

— Joy Ojeabulu (@Euphoria_Sticks) August 12, 2024

Peter Obi, the former Labour Party presidential candidate, voiced his frustrations with the country’s performance despite the significant financial investment. 

In a post on X, he said:

How can one explain that a country like Jamaica spent less than 5% of what we spent on our contingents for the Paris Olympics 2024 and won as many as 6 medals. Yet with our huge financial investments and large contingent, we could not win even a single medal?

— Peter Obi (@PeterObi) August 11, 2024

The Nigerian government had approved over NGN 12 billion (USD 7.5 million) for Nigeria’s participation at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, allocating NGN 9 billion (USD 5.7 million) for the Summer Olympics and over NGN 3 billion (USD 1.9 million) for the Summer Paralympic Games.

In response to the backlash, the Minister of Sports Development, Senator John Enoh called for reform in Nigeria’s sports federations. He stated on X:

“We must set our standards to scrutinise what motivates those vying to run the federations and get only the best hands. This call for reform aims to enhance the leadership and effectiveness of Nigeria’s sports federations, paving the way for improved performance on the global stage.”

While Nigeria went home without a single medal, athletes of Nigerian descent competing for other countries made notable achievements. 

Yemisi Ogunleye clinched gold in the shot put for Germany, marking the country’s first win in that event in 28 years. Salwa Eid Naser secured a silver medal in the women’s 400 meters for Bahrain, and Annette Echikunwoke grabbed a silver in the women’s hammer throw representing the United States. 

Salwa and Annette had once represented Nigeria before switching allegiance. In fact, Annette was part of Team Nigeria at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics but was disqualified because of a failure by the Nigerian Olympic Committee to conduct a mandatory drug test.

Despite the disappointing outcome of the 2024 Summer Olympics, Nigerians are hopeful that the country will record some successes at the Paris 2024 Summer Paralympics Games, which are due to begin on August 28 and where their team will comprise 24 athletes. Nigeria has a strong track record at the Paralympics, including at Tokyo 2020, where it won 10 medals — 4 gold, 1 silver, and 5 bronze.

Written by Guest Contributor