Olympics
Paris 2024: “Why we failed”, Nigeria’s minister offers apology and explanations
Nigeria’s sports minister, John Owan Enoh has apologised for the no-medal outing of Team Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics which ends this Sunday.
This is the first time since the flop at the London 2012 Games. In a statement issued Saturday night by the minister, Enoh writes:
“The Olympic Games, Paris 2024,have ended, and I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians.
“I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 (August 28 – September 8th).
“When I assumed office as the Minister of Sports Development in August 2023, I was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions namely the AFCON, the African Games,the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a matter of a few months.
“I was also reminded that the Olympic Games is the world’s supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it.
“I held extensive discussions with the management staff of the Ministry and got to know that preparations for the Olympics, which was less than a year away, had not started.
“In the true Nigerian spirit, it was our view that we should spare no effort to sustain the international sports image of our country. Our target was to re-enact the Atlanta 1996 performance or even improve on it.
“To this end, we embarked on a progressive approach to drive forward the performance of our athletes and coaches. In my first week in office, I requested all National Sports Federations to furnish me with plans and programmes.
“I also embarked on a nationwide inspection of our sports facilities. Subsequently, I constituted a Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee comprising seasoned sports performance professionals to drive our preparations.
“At this time, we had hardly qualified for the Olympics in any sport. We focused on both the AFCON and the African Games (both of which were happening in quick succession) while our athletes also participated in Olympic and Paralympic qualification tournaments.
“This had the disadvantage of compelling the athletes to attain peak performances several times within a short space of time.
“I was also enlightened that athletes of many countries had qualified almost one year ago and had already structured their training programmes for the Olympics. We were not deterred.
“I convened a series of meetings involving the Presidents of the National Sports Federations, their Technical Directors, and Secretaries General. These meetings examined the preparations for the competitions.
“The Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee was in attendance to discuss and streamline methodologies and training methods in the best possible way, considering the time constraints.
“After the African Games, subsequent meetings were limited to the Federations that had bright chances of qualifying for the Olympics.
“Medals projections were made by all the Federations, although their athletes were still trying to qualify; which lasted until about June 2024.
“The concerned Federations obviously prioritized qualification over preparations for the Games. This seems to have always been the case.This has to change.
“At the end of the qualification period, the selection of athletes and coaches was the absolute responsibility of each Federation. A few attempts to question selection after i got complaints were strongly resisted and defended.
“To achieve our targets, we approved onshore training in different locations in the country in addition to the offshore training camps for our teams in Saarbrucken, Germany, and Sevilla, Spain. Ten out of the eleven sports trained in Germany.
“The choice of the training facilities in Germany was based on the very positive recommendations of the Ministry team and included the President of one of our Federations who as a former world champion and Olympic gold medal winner, is quite familiar with Olympic-standard facilities and equipment.
“At the training camp, the Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee offered scientific preparation and mental strength training support.
“The very high quality of their participation was confirmed by independent sources comprising athletes, coaches, and team administrators.
“In all these, the President and Commander in Chief of the Federation, HE Bola Ahmed Tinubu, ensured that funds were not a limiting factor.
“Athletes competition requirements were provided, allowances were paid early, and training grants were disbursed to all athletes.
“I made myself readily available to deal with any issue throughout the competition. Therefore, the underwhelming performance of our team is puzzling. We owe Nigerians an explanation.
“As a responsible organisation, we have swung into a review process. We shall evaluate the competition readiness of every athlete comprehensively, including their injury and medical history within the limits of patient confidentiality. The role of coaches and administrative staff will also be examined.
“There must be a lot of lessons to learn from our performance and improvements must be made in all ramifications.
“The last time we returned from the Olympics without a medal was in 2012.The next two Olympics after that we’ve had a bronze medal in 2016 and a silver and bronze in the 2020 Olympics.
!As a country, we deserve more.Let’s turn the disastrous outcome of the 2024 Olympics to a huge positive for Nigerian sports.”
Signed :
Senator John Owan Enoh
Honourable Minister of Sports Development.
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.
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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
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Ukraine’s skeleton racer Vladyslav Heraskevych was disqualified from the Milano Cortina Winter Games on Thursday over the use of a helmet depicting Ukrainian athletes killed in the war with Russia, the International Olympic Committee said.
He was informed of his disqualification after a meeting with IOC President Kirsty Coventry early in the morning at the sliding venue.
His team said they would appeal the decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
Coventry told reporters she had wanted to meet the athlete face to face in a last-ditch effort to break the impasse.
“I was not meant to be here but I thought it was really important to come here and talk to him face to face,” Coventry told reporters.
“No one, especially me, is disagreeing with the messaging, it’s a powerful message, it’s a message of remembrance, of memory.
“The challenge was to find a solution for the field of play. Sadly we’ve not been able to find that solution” she added, choking up.
“I really wanted to see him race, It’s been an emotional morning.”
The IOC offered him the opportunity to display his “helmet of remembrance” depicting 24 images of dead compatriots before the start and after the end of Thursday’s race at the Games, while also allowing him to wear a black armband while competing.
“I am disqualified from the race. I will not get my Olympic moment,” said Heraskevych.
The skeleton competition starts later on Thursday.
-Reuters
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