Olympics
‘No retirement yet’, yells seven-time Olympian, Funke Oshonaike
According to BBC, Nigerian table tennis player Funke Oshonaike remains proud of her efforts in Tokyo as she became the first African woman to compete at seven Olympics.
She also became the first female table tennis player to appear at seven Olympics and while she has ruled out an eighth Games she is not retiring just yet.
The 45-year-old exited Tokyo at the preliminary stage on Saturday as she was beaten by Liu Juan of the United States at the delayed Games.
“Overall, I think I’ve done exceedingly well at these Olympics. To get another opportunity to represent my country at the Olympics is special and I can only just stay proud,” she told BBC Sport Africa.
“I may have lost early but I have to count my blessings, to attain a seventh Olympics as the first woman from Africa to do so is a remarkable thing for my career.
“Just think of it by multiplying four years by seven, then to be a part of this unbelievably special Olympics in Tokyo.
“Being the first African, first woman in Table Tennis to do it seven times, puts everything into proper perspective for me, so I have to be grateful.”
Oshonaike first started playing table tennis at the age of 14, and just two years later she was part of Nigeria’s team for the 1991 All Africa Games.
She made her Olympic debut in Atlanta in 1996. She then went on to play at the 2000 Sydney Games, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016.
Inspired at Rio
The 25-time Nigerian table tennis champion has now equalled the record of compatriot Segun Toriola as the only Africans with seven Olympic appearances.
It was at the previous Games in South America, where she was Team Nigeria’s flag-bearer, that she decided to aim for a seventh appearance and join the exclusive table tennis club of seven, comprising of male players.
As well as Toriola the others to compete in table tennis at seven Olympics are: Belgium’s Jean-Michel Saive, Croatia’s Zoran Primorac and Sweden’s Jorgen Persson.
“I was motivated and pushed when I saw my compatriot Segun Toriola at the Rio Games being honoured and I realised this a table of men,” she added.
“I said to myself that there are only men in this club, it’s all I needed to change my mindset and stay in shape to attain same landmark.
“I endured a challenging five years mentally, physically and emotionally, all of this when I still had to deal with qualification for the Tokyo Games.
“After qualification, the coronavirus pandemic happened and then doubts started creeping in, I said probably it was not meant to be, then the cancelation happened.
“But here we are, a tough journey and I can finally say that I have completed the Olympics circle in a special way and at a special Games in Tokyo.”
The future
After 30 years competing at the highest level, becoming an 11-time All African Games medallist and a three-time International Table Tennis Federation Africa Senior Championships winner, Oshonaike admitted she has given her all to the Olympics.
“I guess the next time you see me at the Olympics, I’ll probably be an official or watching as a spectator because I am done,” she explain to the BBC.
“The Olympic Games has been good to me. But now I need to focus on helping the younger ones attain their dream. I will keep playing and giving my best.
“I will be the first to walk away if I can no longer keep up the pace or give my best on the table.”
Organisers of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics said on Monday that registration for the first ticket draw will close on March 18, as the Games begin to take shape with the first baseball qualifiers confirmed and the soccer tournament schedule expanded.
More than five million fans from 197 countries and territories have registered at tickets.la28.org since January for a chance to buy tickets, LA28 said, underscoring strong early demand for the Summer Games, which are due to open on July 14, 2028.
Fans who register by the March 18 deadline will be eligible for a lottery to receive a purchase window for the first ticket release, scheduled for April 9-19.
There will also be a local presale running from April 2-6 for eligible residents in parts of Southern California and Oklahoma. Oklahoma City will host softball and canoe slalom.
LA28 said selected applicants would be notified by email between March 31 and April 7. Fans picked for the first sale window will be able to buy up to 12 tickets for Olympic events, subject to availability, with a four-ticket cap for each of the opening and closing ceremonies.
BASEBALL RETURNS
The ticketing update comes as the first teams booked places in the Olympic baseball tournament through the 2026 World Baseball Classic. The Dominican Republic and Venezuela secured qualification spots from the Americas, joining host United States in the six-team field.
Baseball, one of the sports added to the LA28 programme, will return to the Olympics for the first time since the Tokyo Games and will be played at Dodger Stadium from July 13-19. The remaining three places will be decided through international qualifying tournaments in 2027 and 2028.
LA28 also confirmed that the Olympic soccer tournament will begin on July 10, four days before the opening ceremony, following a decision by the International Olympic Committee Executive Board to extend the competition window.
Organisers said the longer schedule would give teams two additional rest days compared with previous Games.
Group-stage and quarter-final matches will be staged in seven U.S. cities – New York, Columbus, Nashville, St. Louis, San Jose, San Diego and Pasadena – with the men’s and women’s gold medal matches to be played at the Rose Bowl.
LA28 said kickoff times and the full schedule would be released later this year.
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Athletes at the Milano Cortina Winter Games have raced through their free condom supply ahead of Valentine’s Day, leaving dispensers empty on Saturday, with more than a week of competition remaining.
According to a report by Reuters, organisers had distributed around 10,000 condoms across the city and mountain accommodation sites, continuing a long-standing Olympic tradition aimed at promoting safe relationships among competitors living in close quarters.
By Saturday, however, supplies had run out — adding Milan to a growing list of Olympic hosts where demand has comfortably exceeded expectations.
“Clearly, this shows Valentine’s Day is in full swing at the village,” International Olympic Committee spokesman Mark Adams told a press conference. “Ten thousand have been used — 2,800 athletes — you can go figure, as they say.”
Adams added with a smile: “It is rule 62 of the Olympic Charter that we have to have a condoms story. Faster, higher, stronger, together.”
Milano Cortina organisers later acknowledged that stocks had been depleted due to “higher-than-anticipated demand,” but assured that additional supplies were already on the way.
“Additional supplies are being delivered and will be distributed across all Villages between today and Monday,” organisers said in a statement. “They will be continuously replenished until the end of the Games to ensure continued availability.”
The unexpected shortage also surprised some athletes.
Mexican figure skater Donovan Carrillo said he had only just heard about the situation. “I just saw that this morning. I was, like, shocked as everyone else,” he said.
Mialitiana Clerc, an alpine skier representing Madagascar, noted that boxes once placed at building entrances were quickly emptied.
“There were a lot of boxes at the entrance of every building where we were staying, and every day, everything had gone from the boxes,” Clerc said. “I already know that a lot of people are using condoms, or giving them to their friends outside of the Olympics, because it’s a kind of gift for them.”
While medals remain the official measure of achievement at the Games, the empty dispensers suggest that the social side of the Olympics is also proceeding at full pace.
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy on Friday awarded a top state honour to an Olympic skeleton racer who was disqualified from the Winter Games for wearing a helmet commemorating athletes killed in the war with Russia.
Zelenskiy, speaking to Vladyslav Heraskevych on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference, said he had great respect for “all the Olympians who supported you and your position.”
“Medals are important for Ukraine and for you, but it seems to me that the most important thing is who you are,” Zelenskiy said while presenting the racer with the Order of Freedom.
Heraskevych told the president the award was “huge” and that the athletes depicted on the helmet “deserve it even more. Because of their sacrifice, we can compete in the Olympics.”
Heraskevych, 27, was disqualified at the Winter Games in Italy on Thursday when the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation jury ruled that the helmet’s depiction of athletes killed since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022 breached rules on political neutrality.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed his appeal on Friday.
Heraskevych told reporters after the award ceremony that his disqualification was discriminatory as he had not violated the Olympic Charter, a document he said he “really valued.”
“But at the same time, I understand that this scandal has united people around the world about our problem and about the sacrifice of these great athletes, and I believe this goal is much more important than any medal,” he said.
Speaking before the CAS hearing earlier in the day, Heraskevych said his exclusion and rules imposed by the International Olympic Committee were “an instrument of propaganda for Russia. I still receive a lot of threats from the Russian side.”
-Reuters
Join the Sports Village Square channel on WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029Vaz7mEIGk1FxU8YIXb0H
- World Cup6 days ago
EXCLUSIVE! Late Filing, Unpaid Fee Doom Nigeria’s Protest Against DR Congo
- World Cup1 week ago
FIFA Disciplinary Hammer Falls on Nigeria and DR Congo
- OBITUARY1 week ago
BREAKING: Another Blow for Nigerian Sports as Henry Nwosu Dies at 62
- AFCON5 days ago
Morocco Awarded AFCON 2025 Title as CAF Appeal Board Sanctions Senegal
- OBITUARY1 week ago
Nigeria Football Federation Mourns 1980 AFCON Hero Henry Nwosu
- World Cup1 day ago
FIFA Cancels Thousands of Hotel Rooms in World Cup Host Cities Amid U.S. Immigration Concerns
- WOMEN'S FOOTBALL1 week ago
Three Iranian women soccer players to return home after seeking asylum in Australia
- MLS4 days ago
Messi scores 900th career goal, joins Ronaldo in elite club