The last time I checked on the official website of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games holding in Rio de Janeiro, what I first saw was the Omega time piece tickling away, counting days to the most glamorous sporting event in the world.
From that time piece, by today, January 31, 2016, it will be exactly 187 days, some fraction of hours, minutes and seconds to the Games which is expected to run from 5-21, August, 2016.
The next information I saw and read was that about 10,500 athletes (excluding officials) from 206 countries( Nigeria inclusive of course) will compete in the “First Olympic Games in South America.”
It further revealed that during the 17 days it would last, there will be 306 medals to be competed for by the athletes out of which 161 of them will be for men, 136 for women and nine mixed, that is for both sexes in double events.
All these medals will be in 42 events including two others, golf which is returning to the Games after 112 years and rugby, making a comeback after 92 years.
Of all the information I got, one thing I know is that my country, Nigeria will be among the 206 participating countries and her athletes will be among the 10,500 mentioned while she will be competing in only seven sports, athletics, wrestling, football, boxing, taekwondo, basketball and weightlifting, even though the authorities earlier said eight sports would make it.
What I couldn’t find answers to are how many athletes would fly our flag in Rio and how many of those medals our athletes would be able to win.
Again because it is said that to win a medal at the Olympics, an athlete should have started preparing for it immediately after one ends, I cannot say how prepared our athletes are. Our athletes should have started preparing after the London 2012 Olympics, which ironically was the worst in recent times for our country as we came back empty handed but it is sadly not so.
Nigeria’s Daniel Igali, who is president of the Wrestling Federation is a very good example here. When he was spotted by Canada which eventually made him to switch nationality in 1994 at the Commonwealth Games they hosted that year in Victoria, they did not rush him into participating in the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta but prepared him for the Sydney Games in 2000.
How did they start? They first got him a sponsor which provided money for his needs. He then started training, then competing from time to time in national and continental as well as world championships. So he was ripe for a medal at the 2000 Olympics and he didn’t disappoint, winning for Canada her first Olympic gold in wrestling.
There are many more Igalis here but have they been identified and how really prepared to win medals in Rio are they? If they have even been identified, how motivated are they and how are their trainings being funded? Our sports authorities may well tell you that the athletes have been training on their own but is that how it is supposed to be?
Igali never prepared on his own, his trainings were monitored. He had specified time to train, time to eat, eat food that is monitored and given the right medication when it became necessary. Then he had a planned calendar to participate in competitions which are chosen so he doesn’t burn out before the Games proper.
Do our athletes have all these already done for them? When they tell you that our athletes are training on their own, they are truly on their own. They train when they feel like and eat whatever they could afford which surprisingly include food like beans and bread they buy across the road. They take medication on their own and hence unknowingly become victims of banned substances some times.
Recently eight of our athletes who won medals at the 2015 African Games in Congo failed drug test and have been banned for between four and eight years. This calls for concern and the anti doping unit of the sports ministry should be worried about what to do so we don’t get the same embarrassment in Rio.
It is pertinent to point out to the sports ministry officials that it just 187 days to the Games and the athletes and their officials want to know when their camping, the closed one where those already pencilled down for the Games, will start. At least from then, the athletes could be monitored closely to know what they eat, the medications they take and how they train.
After visiting the training facilities in Lagos, Abuja and the High Performance Centre in Port Harcourt, it is time for the sports minister to ask how about the athletes because we are way behind in our preparations. In time past, the athletes should be getting ready to embark on training tours abroad, not only to fine tune their training but participate in some championships so that they can peak as they enter into the Games.
That was what the late Group Captain Brai Ayonote did for the boxers on their way to posting respectable results and podium performances at the 1992 Games in Barcelona, Spain. That was the era our athletics team gave the Americans a run for their money.
It also important to remind the Minister that President Muhammadu Buhari’s call for a better performance in Brazil during the presidential reception for victorious athletes should be taken seriously otherwise we will be courting with a repeat of the London 2012 disaster.
END
Be the first to comment