Team Nigeria may be on course to repeat a gold medal winning feat at this year’s Olympic Games in Paris, France.
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This is according to the minister of sports development, Senator John Owan Enoh, who noted that it is a long time since the country last achieved a top podium spot at the Olympiad.
That came through men’s football and Chioma Ajunwa in the female long jump, but Enoh pointed out that those achievements came quite a long time ago.
The minister stated as much during his post-mortem of the Nigerian contingent’s outing at the just concluded African Games in Accra, Ghana; which he described as good but not the best.
He noted further that placing second overall on the final medals table was a heroic feat for the Nigerian athletes, but wondered why they could not break any Games’ records in the process.
Enoh went on to charge the athletes, coaches, officials and journalists to put the results in Ghana 2024 behind them and start planning towards this year’s Olympics in France.
He added that all hands must be on deck to ensure Nigeria’s athletes not only win gold medals in Paris, but they should also break records and enact new milestones.
He went on the outline plans that he personally has in the pipeline and what will be done by the ministry to ensure adequate preparations are put in place, towards assurances of outstanding results in this summer’s Olympics.
Enoh expanded thus: “Our target for the Olympic Games is to break records. We are now looking towards winning gold medals at the Olympics.
“The only time we won gold at the Olympics was in 1996. That was Atlanta. But, many years after, we’ve not won any other gold.
“That is why my determination is to see how, in this next Olympics, Nigeria records a gold medal. Towards achieving that vision, I want us to contribute to the welfare of our athletes. Let’s make our athletes happier, contribute to more happiness in our country, and bring joy among Nigerians.
“The ministry is going to concentrate on those sports that Nigeria has continued to do well in. We’ll look at those sports that have given us previous medals that we have recorded.
“We’ll also boost all other sports, because the ministry is going to adopt every strategy that is available.”
The minister went on to unfold an extensive pre-Olympics schedule and gameplan, which he said will include seeking new areas of funding for Team Nigeria as a whole.
