allAfrica.com: Nigeria: At Beijing 2008 (Page 1 of 1)

"By the way what became of your plan to go to the airport to welcome back the Team Nigeria from the Olympics?" "Don't mind me o. If I want to be honest with myself the plan was dead on arrival".

"Haba! My brother why use such a morbid expression? They say half bread is better than none. At least the football team won the Silver medal even if there was not much more to write home about"

Why should I waste my private and hard - earned resources to embrace the overall failure the Team exhibited? There is no other way to describe the nation's performance at Beijing or can you think of another?"

I was not expecting much so I guess I am not disappointed. With what I read in the newspapers during the weeks leading up to the Olympics, I am not surprised at the outcome at all. You are the one who has so much hope for the performance of our sports men and women and gets so emotionally involved to the point of planning to meet the Team at the airport!"

Excuse me please what can be wrong with believing so much in ones country men and women? I like to think of myself as a patriot even though right now I feel very let down"

Na you know patriotism! As far as I am concerned the writing was on the wall from the beginning. We still do not have a set of committed sports administrators that can deliver a winning team. My take is that until the entire bunch of mediocres are cleared out from the Ministry and other sports-related government agencies and departments we are not yet ready for global glory".

That is not entirely correct man! Have you forgotten that we won the Gold medal in football at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996?

Although these days that is beginning to sound like a century ago!"

"That is yesterday's glory and for how long more do we want to bask in past glories? What the current performance has shown is that as far as sports are concerned we are champions in Africa but not at the global level. The nation's female football has shown up this gross deficiency if nothing else. Our boxers and table tennis players also performed dismally. Can you imagine that half-way through the Games the Chairman of the National Sports Commission was quoted as saying he was satisfied with the performance of the country's contingent".

"I guess you do have a point there. Not even our athletes shone through. Our so-called fastest man and medal hopeful remains an enigma only at home. But I am still insisting that the root of the problem is that we do not have the right set of people administering sports development in this country. The sports sector has suffered greatly in the hands of those who lack the capacity to deliver."

"We have lamented this over the years and there does not appear to be any willingness on the part of the Government to wield the big axe. Look where it has got us? Even Zimbabwe which is still being pummelled over its political leadership managed to get a Gold medal and Kenya which has just come through from what was more or less a civil war got a number of Gold Medals too".

In fact come to think of it is quite embarrassing for Nigeria a nation bigger in size and richer in resources than those two, has no Gold medals to show off to her citizenry?

"My brother don't let us fool ourselves any longer. Lack of planning and official laziness have dogged the nation's sporting spirit for as long as I can remember. You are likely to find that even the willing sportsman or woman is so frustrated with the attitude of the officials that many have taken up the nationality of other countries or simple put sports behind them and moved on. Do you know that the Americans had booked an exclusive training area in China for their Team six years ahead of the Games? This meant that on arrival in Beijing they had their own space and did not have to compete for use of facilities with other nations. Now that is what I call planning."

"Sometimes I wonder if we really went to China for the Olympics. We read that it has been shopping galore for both officials and the sports men and women alike. I am pretty sure that the lobbies of the airports would be littered with bags and bags of stuff bound for Lagos and shippers would also do brisk business on the China- Nigeria route. As you know Nigerians are known all over the world for packing grotesque amounts of luggage whenever travelling back home from abroad".

"My brother if you were in their shoes would you not shop until you drop? But seriously speaking who knows perhaps it is that now (in) famous saying that it is not about winning but participation that fuels our conduct at international sports events. Whatever the case our Government has a lot of work to do. People are tired of the excuses and need to see results.

" To be honest I really look forward to the day we will be amongst the top five on the Medals table. I would like to see the day our nation stands to receive Gold medal after Gold medal because we have prepared very well and have the right set of people managing the process."

That should be 2012 or 2016 or even 2020. My friend, you will be in your 70's then are you sure you will still be interested in sports?"

"Please leave my age out of this discussion! I like the sound of 2020. Is that not when President Yar'Adua promised that the Nigeria would be among the world's top 20 economies? Would it not be brilliant if our Team also brings home lots of Gold Medals too?

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