‘What a shame!’: Obi slams Nigeria’s performance at Paris Olympics

The Labour Party (LP) presidential candidate in the 2023 election, Peter Obi, has described Team Nigeria’s performance at the 2024 Olympics in Paris, France, as a “shame”.

Nigeria presented over 80 athletes at the Paris Olympics which ended on Sunday, August 11, 2024, but failed to win a medal.

The medal table for the Olympics has the United States at the top with 40 gold, 44 silver, and 42 bronze, while China occupied the second position with 40 gold, 27 silver, and 24 bronze.

Japan also came third with 20 gold, 12 silver, and 13 bronze.

Speaking via a statement on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday, Obi said the performance of Nigerian athletes at the Olympics was a “shame” despite the huge financial investment made into the project.

The two-term former governor of Anambra State said: “How can one explain that a country like Jamaica spent less than 5% of what we spent on our contingents for the Paris Olympics 2024 and won as many as 6 medals. Yet with our huge financial investments and large contingent, we could not win even a single medal?

“At least nine African countries won gold but the giant with over 200m people came home without even a bronze! We invested about N12 billion in this year’s Olympics, which is almost twice the amount budgeted for the entire Ministry of Science and Technology for this year.

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“This is over N136 million (about $85,000) spent on each of the 88 Nigerian contingents to the Olympics, and no single medal was won while Jamaica, a nation which spent far less than we did, a total of about $2300 on each contingent, won 6 medals; 1 Gold, 3 Silver and 2 Bronze at the Olympics.

“We must now interrogate the relationship between this huge investment and our dismal outcome. Sad stories like this are our lot only because we have refused to embrace competence and capacity over routine and favouritism in Nigeria.”

Obi further lamented the exclusion of Nigerian sprinter Favour Ofili from the 100m race at the Paris Olympics, adding: “What explanation can anyone give about Annette Echikunwoke, a former Nigerian hammer thrower, who was frustrated by the same rascality of some Nigerian leaders, making her switch her allegiance to the United States, where she eventually won a medal in the just completed Olympics?

“These same professional athletes were denied the opportunity to represent our nation in Tokyo 2020, for similar reasons of administrative recklessness.

“I have it on good authority that some injured athletes, not physically fit to represent the country and not competing in the ongoing Olympics, were there in Paris receiving estacodes from our national resources.

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“Some of the sports officials and others who have no reason to be at the Olympics were there too, living large and feeding fat on the estacodes while our nation was crashing out on every sporting event. One of our athletes, Ese Ukpeseraye, had to borrow a bicycle to compete at her sporting event!

“What a country! What a shame! When do we stop these rascalities that always rob our nation of golden opportunities to make a positive change?”

Obi, therefore, urged the government to investigate “these gross misconducts” and ensure that those responsible do not have the opportunity to do so again.

“We must build a nation of discipline and commitment to duty, where competence and capacity reign,” he stressed.

The Star