Julius OkorieTeam Nigeria will feature in 12 sports at the 33rd Olympics set for flag off in Paris France, from Friday July 26, 2024 to August 11, 2024.
The sports includes team sports basketball and football where incidentally the men failed to qualify leaving the ladies D’Tigress and Super Falcons to fly the nation’s flag in those two crowd pulling sports.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelBoth D’Tigress and the Super Falcons are not likely to have tea parties considering their opponents, while D’Tigress face France, Canada and Australia in the group stage, Super Falcons on the other hand will face Brazil, Spain and Japan in the Group stage.
Both teams lost their friendly shape up matches heading into the Games. Super Falcons lost by a lone goal to Olympic defending champions Canada in Seville, D’Tigress lost back to back friendly matches against Germany and Serbia with the next and final shape up match billed for Wednesday against Japan who made mincemeat of their Nigerian of their Nigerian counterparts at the 2000 Olympics in Athens no thanks to 102-83 defeat.
For the Super Falcons, even if the players heading for this Olympics are new, they are not totally green horns to the Olympics having made it to the quarterfinals at the Athens edition in 2004 before losing to eventual winners United States, D’Tigress on their part, are seeking their first victory at the Olympics in in their third Olympic appearances, whether they will be able to break that jinx is left to be seen.
Outside the pitch, track and field has the highest number of Nigerian athletes vying for gold at the tournament and it is one of the events expected to win Nigeria a good number of medals.
It has always been the area Nigerians look forward to for a medal.
Athletes like world record holder Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume are some of the hopefuls in this year’s Games.
In fact it will be refreshing to see Amusan who was recently cleared of all doping allegations for Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) can touch gold to banish every memory of the unfounded allegation that threatened to dent her career.
Other athletes in various discipline include Blessing Oborodudu, Favour Ofili, Odunayo Adekouroye, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi, and Aruna Quadri (table tennis).Other events Team Nigeria is expected to do very well in are Wrestling, boxing and Taekwondo.
Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, urged Nigeria’s contingents to surpass the country’s achievement at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.
“My aspiration for Team Nigeria is to surpass its best Olympic outing achieved at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, USA.
“Our athletes are putting in tremendous effort and dedication in their preparations. We are confident that with the support of every Nigerian, our team will excel and make the nation proud,” Senator Enoh said
Senator Enoh revealed that the athletes will be fully motivated to excel at the Games; their welfare is a top most priority. “The entire 100 million naira contributed by the Federal House of Representatives will be given to the athletes,” the Minister announced at the parley with journalists in Abuja on Thursday.
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Recall that in the 1996 Olympics, Team Nigeria won two Gold, one Silver and three Bronze medals to finish the tournament in the 32nd spot on the medals table.
Since then, Nigeria has never surpassed that mark. But it is hoped that Team Nigeria will do better than the 2020 Olympics in Japan if the Minister tall order becomes unachievable.
At that event which had Aruna Quadri and Odunayo Adekuoroye as flag bearers, Nigeria posted poor run finishing 74th on the medal table with one Silver and one Bronze.
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A total of 87 athletes will be representing Nigeria in 12 sporting events at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. This is made up of 32 athletes, out of which are 14 male and 18 female athletes. Football, with an 18-woman squad and Basketball with 12 players, others discipline 22.
For the first time since 2016, Nigeria will send three boxers to the Olympics, viz Dolapo Omole (men’s featherweight), Olaitan Olaore (men’s heavyweight), and Cynthia Ogunsemilore (women’s lightweight).
Can you predict how many Medals will be coming home?
Below Are The Sports In Which Nigeria Will Feature In Paris:
Athletics
Badminton
Basketball (Women)
Boxing
Canoeing
Cycling
Football (Women)
Table Tennis
Taekwondo
Weightlifting
Wrestling
Swimming
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
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