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If you’re Nigerian, and you don’t live under a rock then you are most likely aware of the Nigerian government’s poor treatment of Nigerian athletes. It was actually quite surprising that our U-23 team was able to bag a bronze at the Rio Olympics. Considering that, it’s no wonder these athletes of Nigerian descent did not represent the country.
1. Kemi Adekoya
23-year-old Adekoya switched nationalities in 2014, after failing to qualify to represent Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympics. She represented Bahrain in 400m at the Rio Olympics, although she didn’t make it to the finals.
2. Femi Ogunode
Born in 1991, Femi moved to Qatar in 2009, and began competing for the oil-rich nation in 2010. He previously ran for University of Ibadan, and even qualified for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. For unknown reasons, he never actually went on to the event. He represented Qatar in both 100m and 200m races in Rio. Femi is currently Asia’s fastest man.
3. Morolake Akinosun
Born in Lagos in 1994, Akinosun represented and won gold for America in the 2015 Pan-African Games in Toronto. She also represented the country in 4x100m relay in Rio, winning another gold.
4. Ezinne Okpaerebo
Ezinne represented Norway at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, and again in the 2012 London Olympics. The 28-year-old Norwegian who was born in Nigeria and who originally hails from Imo State, is currently Norway’s fastest woman.
5. Ayomide Folorunsho
Born in Abeokuta in 1996, Folorunsho represented Italy in the World Championships in Beijing (2015), and the European Championships in Amsterdam (2016). She competed for Italy in the 400m hurdles and 400 x 100m in Rio.
6. Abubakar Abass
Born in Kano State in 1996, Abbas has won a silver medal in 400m for his adopted country Bahrain. He also represented the country in 400m race at the Rio Olympics.
7. Francis Obilekwu
This sprinter got injured representing Nigeria at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, but didn’t get any support from the government for his surgery in Canada. However, he went on to represent Portugal at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and won a silver medal for his adopted country.
8. Marlilyn Okoro
Born to Igbo parents, Okoro is a British track and field athlete. She represented Britain in the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as at the IAAF and World Athletic Championships.
9. Edidion Efonime Odiong
This incredibly fast Nigerian sprinter represents Bahrain, and won the 200m race at the IAAF
U-20 Championships, 2016. The 19 year old was also at Rio to represent Bahrain, but unfortunately did not make it to the finals.
10. Barbara Udoezi Nwaba
Born to Igbo parents in 1987, Barbara ran track for her school: University of California, Santa Barbara. She represented America at the Rio Olympics in Shot put, javelin and 800m race.
The U-23 team finally clinched a medal in the Rio 2016 Olympics and we still can’t believe it.
The team faced Honduras in a battle for the Bronze title after loosing 2-0 to Germany in the semi-finals.
The Nigerian team dominated the game for the first 80 minutes with 3 goals from Sadiq Umar and Aminu Umar.
We seriously thought we had the bronze in the bag until Anthony Lozano and Marcelo Pereira won 2 goals for Team Honduras in the final 20 minutes.
This was us when we saw they had added 4 minutes of extra time to the game.
Mercifully, the whistle was blown and Team Nigeria WON!
Nigeria’s football bronze was the only medal the country managed to clinch in Rio. A tiny step-up from the London 2012 Summer Olympics performance where we had zero medals.
Nigeria is the first African country to have completed a sweep of Olympic medals: Atlanta ’96 Gold, Beijing ’08 Silver and now Rio ’16 Bronze.
Meanwhile, the Japanese plastic surgeon who promised the team a whooping $390,000 if they won actually came through!
And get this, this good Samaritan actually traveled down to Brazil from Tokyo, to cheer the boys during their game against Honduras.
Takasu said he was deeply moved by the Dream team’s financial challenges and extremely resilient spirit.
His actions are in sharp contrast to that of Nigerian billionaires, who were not able to assist Nigerian athletes, after the government had shown little or no support for them.
Aliko Dangote, Africa’s richest man promised the Super Eagles $1 million after their 2013 African Cup of Nations win, but the money has not been disbursed to date.
As Tokyo 2020 closes in, we hope there’ll be a complete overhaul of the Nigerian Sports ministries and its agencies, so real heroes like these can be properly motivated and compensated.
A Nigerian weightlifter, after finishing 8th in her group, has decided to boycott the Olympics until things change for better.
Looking at the general performance of the Nigerian team at the Olympics and how badly prepared Nigerian athletes were, it’s only enough to admit that the Nigerian sports sector needs some sort of reform.
Mariam Hassan, who was the only Nigerian weightlifter at the Olympics couldn’t be more disappointed after facing competitors who were better trained with quality equipment.
According to her, it’s useless to compete at the Olympics without winning any medal. She believes Nigerian athletes, when given access to quality training and proper sponsorship, are capable of competing with the best athletes in the world.
She says the most painful part is how the athletes are expected to ‘miraculously’ win gold medals after receiving little support from the Nigerian government.
Mariam has decided to only represent Nigeria in forthcoming Olympics on the condition that better training facilities are provided and things in the sporting sector generally change for the better. One can only imagine how these athletes feel, considering the fact that many of them made it as far as the semi finals of their categories.
This year’s Olympics should serve as a lesson for Nigeria. In the past, Nigeria was one of the top countries that placed Africa on the international sporting map. However, Rio Olympics shows how bad things have become.
We hope this event will make the Nigerian sports ministry take responsibility and change things for the better.
He currently has 5 gold medals to his name after winning gold medals at the African Junior Championships in 2013 and 2015.
Being a vocal and unapologetic individual, Divine called out the Nigerian sports ministry for not paying proper attention to athletes, especially after qualifying for the Olympics.
Despite being let down severally by the Nigerian Government, especially in the areas of funding, planning and general support, we still believe in the abilities of the athletes representing us. Here are the top stars we think will win big in Rio.
1. Dream Team VI member, Oghenekaro Etebo.
Etebo made us super proud when he scored 4 out of 5 goals in our U-23 game against Japan.
2. Olympic and World Championship medalist, Blessing Okagbare.
Okagbare will represent us in both track events and long jump.
3. Champion tennis player, Aruna Qadri.
Quadri has set a record as the first African to make it to the Table Tennis Quarter Finals at the Olympics.
4. Odunayo Adekuoroye, freestyle wrestling champion.
She won a gold medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and a bronze at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships.
Shane plays center position for FC Barcelona Lassa, and is a great addition to the Nigerian team for the Men’s Tournament at the Olympics.
6. Track and field athlete, Margaret Bamgbose.
Bamgbose was the lead for Team Nigeria’s relay race at the World Indoor Championships in Portland this year, and will represent Nigeria in the 400m Women’s Race.
7. American-born athlete, Miles Ukaoma.
He competed in the 2015 World Championships in Beijing and will represent Nigerian in the 400m Men’s Hurdle.
8. Champion sprinter, Gloria Asunmu.
Asunmu represented Nigeria in the 2014 IAAF relays, 2015 World Championships in Beijing and the 2016 African Championships in South Africa. She will represent Nigeria in the Women’s 100m and 4 by 100m relay race.
9. U-23 footballer, Umar Sadiq.
Sadiq who is also a forward for football club A.S Roma, scored Nigeria’s first goal in the game against Japan, and we look forward to all the amazing things this 19-year-old will do in Rio.
10. John Mikel Obi, professional footballer.
Mikel is a regular on the Nigerian national football team, and also a mid-fielder for English football club Chelsea. He is the captain of the Dream Team VI, and so far has led the team to win against Sweden and Japan.
24-year-old Robel Kiros Habte, out of his love for swimming joined the Olympic team to represent his country, Ethiopia, at the Summer Olympics in Rio. Unfortunately for him, haters had a lot to say about his weight.
During the competition, Robel came 59th out of the 59 competitors and even got cut from the camera.
After this poor performance, he was badly body shamed for his 179 pound weight and was even given a horrible nickname, “Robel The Whale”.
Although reports say he was only able to join the team with the influence of his father, who is the president of the Ethiopian Swimming Federation, Robel has decided to not give up on swimming.
He explained that he wanted to do something different for his country for the first time. In his words, “My country is famous for runners. I wanted to be famous for being a swimmer”.
Speaking to Daily Mail about his current body size, he shared how he gained a lot of weight after surviving a car accident.
While these negative comments have put him off from contesting in the next Olympics, Habte has sworn to shut all the haters down by working hard and placing his name in other international swimming competitions.
In spite of his poor performance, he’s proud to be an Olympian and that should be the most important thing.
And although his entry into the Olympics may have been out of corruption and not merit, body shaming him will not change the fact that he was the 1st Ethiopian to swim at the Olympics.
This post is pretty hard to write because our beloved Nigeria did not impress us. Due to poor planning, Team Nigeria couldn’t slay in traditional outfits. We are only here for the laughs sha, and we saved the worst for last.
The Good:
1. The South Korean Team looking nice and preppy in Beanpole’s design is seriously the cutest thing we’ve seen at the Olympics.
These guys oozed cuteness.
2. This guy from Tonga only had to wear baby oil.
My oh my!
3. All we see is awesomeness with this perfectly tailored Team USA ensemble.
These Ralph Lauren boat shoes are the business!
4. Team Canada went for flawless street style swag, designed by Dsquared.
We half expected Drake and a flash mob to pop out.
6. Team Djibouti killed it with a simple cultural look.
Africans representing!
7. And here is Team Great Britain serving a very British look in Stella McCartney and Adidas.
Those sneakers are everything.
8. Team Cuba looked like money in Louboutin/Sporty Henri designs.
So very classy.
Although they wore parkas over that awesomeness at the Opening Ceremony.
Ahn ahn, why now?
The Bad:
1. Team Germany didn’t look so great wearing leggings under skirts.
Leggings bawo?
2. Team Italy could have done with more color, they looked really dull in Giorgio Armani’s all black designs.
Abeg whose funeral is it?
3. Looks like Nigerian tailors made Team Sweden’s ill-fitting skirts using ugly fabric.
We are not understanding.
4. Team China looked like a cold plate of tomato stew with the ugliest tie colors.
Those ties are a no-no!
5. We really like how cultural Team Indonesia looked, but the red and white blazer is giving us serious Ajinomoto vibes.
‘Maggi maggi!’
The Ugly.
We’re giving Team Nigeria the award for ‘The Ugly’ mainly because the outfits they were supposed to wear were beyond atrocious.
Chineke!
Thankfully, there was a delay in planning and the athletes had to wear available tracksuits instead.
As if Nigerian athletes haven’t gone through enough problems already, they were once again let down at the Rio 2016 Opening Ceremony due to poor planning by the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
The Opening Ceremony is the official start of every Olympic Games, and Vanderlei de Lima, a former Brazilian athlete opened it this time around.
Athletes from different countries filed out in a colorful parade, dressed very beautifully, especially this flag bearer from Tonga.
How Nigerians waited for our athletes to appear in killer outfits, because we slay at this Aso Ebi game.
But imagine our shock when Team Nigeria came out in track suits, not looking super-excited to be at the Olympics. But can we blame them?
The athletes had to wear track suits because the traditional attire was not available.
After going through so much and not even receiving financial support from the Nigerian government, the women representing Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics 4x400m relay event have been disqualified by the IAAF.
According to Complete Sports, the team got banned after one of the athletes, Tosin Adeloye, tested positive to a banned substance at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Super Grand Prix/Warri Relays which took place in Warri, Delta State in July 2015.
As a result, Nigeria will no longer be represented at the 4x400m event even after the team came 4th during the IAAF World Championship in August 2015. All records of the team making the top list during the Beijing games have also been removed from the IAAF website.
In addition to being disqualified from the Olympics, Tosin has been banned for 8 years and also stripped of all the results she achieved individually or jointly.
While other members of the relay team will still take part in other events, it’s unfortunate that Regina George, one of the athletes that raised funds via GoFundMe, will not make the Olympics because the 4x400m race was the only event she was to participate in.
More attention should be paid to Nigerian athletes, so they are properly educated on the necessary regulations to obey and also the kinds of substances to be avoided.
But this feat didn’t come easy for Chierika Ukogu, who had to put off medical school for 2 years just to make her dream of representing Nigeria at the Olympics possible.
Despite not receiving any financial help from the Nigerian government, this Stanford University graduate funded her training and travel expenses through her full-time job and T-shirt sales.
However, with the Olympics drawing nearer, the need to train harder drove Chiereka to raise more funds via her GoFundMe page.
Although she was born and raised by Nigeria parents in the U.S, Chiereka is thrilled to be the first Nigerian athlete to row at the Olympics
What motivates her isn’t just her personal goal to be a great athlete, but also the need to promote sports in Africa and also inspire young people in Nigeria and the U.S.
We’re so proud of Chiereka! We wish her all the best and hope she brings all the gold home.
For a country that’s home to amazing athletes like Blessing Okagbare and Seye Ogunlewe, it’s expected that these sportsmen are properly rewarded for their efforts.
Unfortunately, Nigerian athletes hardly enjoy any benefits and this video couldn’t be more saddening.
🎥"Nobody cares about us…we didn't eat for 3 days…not everybody can run with stress" Travails of 🇳🇬 athletes Pt.1 pic.twitter.com/pg4CUJ3DDa
Although the Nigerian team qualified for the Summer Olympics, it was reported that the athletes were asked to buy their tickets to the trip themselves.
It’s even more disappointing that the fastest man in Asia as at 2016 is Nigerian-born, Femi Ogunode.
For a country with a high unemployment rate, the sports sector should at least be adequately funded so that the Nigerian youth going into sports can be empowered.
Following the reaction from Nigerians on social media, the sports minister, Solomon Dalung, addressed the issue claiming the sports ministry had nothing to do with the email which was obviously signed by a deputy director in the ministry.
