‘Nigeria may not win a single medal at Rio 2016’
Angiel Taylor, director in charge of athletics, boxing and judo at the National Sports Commission (NSC), says Nigeria may not win any medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
Taylor lamented the level of preparation, saying the sporting body has refused to send athletes to qualifier events ahead of the Olympics.
“There is every possibility that the country may return from the Rio Olympics with no medals just like it happened in the 2012 Olympics in London,” the former USA Olympic medalist, said.
“There are laid down programmes towards winning any medal at Olympics. You must attend and participate in some qualifying events. But it is unfortunate that Nigeria is not sending their athletes to the events, and with such attitude, there is no way they can participate in a major competition like the Olympics without first qualifying.
“So, the implication is that we are narrowing our chances of winning medals, which can be detrimental to our chances at the games.”
But Alhassan Yakmut, director-general of NSC, disagreed with Taylor, saying Nigerian athletes have the genes that enable them perform optimally even without adequate preparation.
“If preparation is anything to go by, the Golden Eaglets should not have won the FIFA U-17 trophy, because their preparation towards the tournament was not fully adequate. But because of the gene of a typical Nigerian, who is physically strong, and would be able to surmount any obstacle to excel.”
It is with great melancholy that I sit disappointed thinking we could have done better, we would have done better, the training is not enough, there is a great lack of motivation. It is truly sad.
And to think this was written before the Rio olympics