In about twenty-four months’ time, the world will converge for another showpiece in the Olympic games once again. It is no news that the Nigerian contingent to the last games, Tokyo 2020, ended up in a disappointing show.
In its bid to ensure adequate training for Nigerian athletes ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, the Nigeria Olympic Committee, NOC has secured an International Olympic Committee, IOC sponsored training scholarship at Germany’s high-performance centre for national taekwondo champion, Elizabeth Oluchi Anyanacho.
Anyanacho is one of eight other Nigerian athletes who had earlier been captured in the scheme ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The scholar is expected to move to the Taekwondo Competence Centre TCC Friedrichshafen in Germany to boost her preparation and qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Speaking to newsmen, NOC Secretary General, Banji Oladapo, said “the Committee is determined to ensure adequate preparation for the country’s best athletes, which would lead them to the Games championing the Olympic values.” He further revealed that the TCC Friedrichshafen, combines sports-scientific, innovative know-how in theory and practice, and connects science, research, and sports-practical work at the highest level.
“Anyanacho will train under a well-developed training structure, which is supervised by world-class coaches and scientific personnel. This is a pilot programme to aid the development of taekwondo in Nigeria,” Oladapo concluded.
The undergraduate of Statistics at the Federal University of Technology, Owerri has always combined school and sports right from time.
Anyanacho was Nigeria’s sole representative in the taekwondo event at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. Coached by Olympic medalist, Chika Chukwumerije, she became the country’s first woman athlete in the sport at the Olympics in 16 years.