Why Nigeria May Not Perform Well At Tokyo Olympics- Stakeholders

Nigeria does not have a concrete succession plan for younger athletes to take over from older athletes when they are out off form or even retired.

This explains the reason why some athletes are still representing Nigeria at the Olympics for up to six and seven consecutive times.

In the Tokyo Olympics which is coming up on July 23 through August 8, Nigeria has selected some Olympians who will make their 7th appearance.

45-year-old Olufunke Oshonaike, who became the first female from Nigeria to compete at her sixth consecutive games, will also participate at Tokyo.

Blessing Okagbare, who competed at the last three consecutive Olympic Games, will be making her fourth appearance. She made her first Olympics debut in 2008.

Effoing Edem Olympics table tennis player is also making her fourth appearance.

Gabor Felegyi, who competed for Nigeria at the 2012 Summer Olympics and 2016 Summer Olympics has also qualified to represent Nigeria in Tennis.

Out of the four tennis players representing Nigeria, Olajide Omotayo will appear at the Olympics for the first time.

Segun Toriola, who set a record as Africa’s first ever athlete to feature in seven Olympics which are the Atlanta 1996, Sydney 2000, Athens 2004, Beijing 2008, London 2012 and Rio 2016 would have been at the Tokyo Olympics.

He missed out after he and his pairing partner, Olufunke Oshonaike lost to Egypt’s Omar Assar and Dina Meshref in the mixed doubles event finals of the Africa Olympic Qualifying Tournament held in Tunis.

Saidu Musa, Bronze Badge Chair Umpire of the International Tennis Federation in an interview with THE WHISTLER said the country does not have a concrete succession plan for athletes.

Musa who will officiate at the Paralympics Games said in the last ten to fifteen years, the country had good and talented players.

According to him, their chances has been cut short because of the finances involved.

He said, having same athletes representing the country for up to seven Olympics ” is not done anywhere.”

“You must have a pool of athletes that you are grooming and by the time you are ready, you have the best athletes representing you. But what I see every day is that we still have athletes that have been taking part in the Olympics in the past six – seven Olympics.

“They are still the people we are taking to the Olympics this year. If they are the best you have and there is nobody to take over their position, then there is a problem.

“The National Olympics Committee sends profiles of their athletes that will participate for the Olympics and some have been in the list for the sixth time. So that means we have not done anything in terms of development to groom other athletes that will take over from these sets of people.

“ So, if these people wake up tomorrow and say ‘I’m not going to participate, I am not ready to go because I need this and that,’ who will do the job?

“We have this problem of replacement that is why we have the same set of people at every Olympics. We have them in table tennis and other sports.

Dorcas Adesokan who is Africa’s number one female single in badminton in an interview with THE WHISTLER admitted that there are several issues facing succession for old athletes in the country.

She will represent Nigeria at the badminton event of the Tokyo Olympics, but said younger players do not have all the financial support needed to give them the needed exposure to take over from the older athletes.

She said, “Too many things are affecting sports nowadays, not only badminton and athletics, but sports generally. Finance is an issue. To keep a player is very high and not just keeping the player, but to find someone that will be dedicated or willing to play the game is very difficult now.

“So many parents too are really affected by this because they will feel like ‘what are you going to offer to the family playing for Nigerian looking at the time and years they have to spend before even getting there.

“Back home in Ogun, I have so many people that are really playing badminton. At least I have some of our players that are among Nigeria’s top five or ten.

“We still have back up or people that are still playing. But seriously, a lot of things are affecting the growth of sports in Nigeria. “