The federal government has apologized to Nigerians for the poor outing of the country’s athletes at the just-concluded Olympic Games in Paris.
The Nigerian contingent did not win any medals at the biggest sporting event in the world.
In a post on X a few minutes ago, Senator John Owan Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development, acknowledged the disappointing performance of Nigerian athletes at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
He expressed regret that Nigeria’s performance fell short of expectations and objectives.
His words: ”The Olympic Games, Paris 2024, has ended, and I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians.
”I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024(August 28- September 8th).
Enoh, who took office in August 2023, noted that the preparations for the Olympics had not begun when he assumed office, and the tight schedule also included the AFCON and the African Games.
He also stated that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ensured that funds were not a limiting factor for the sporting event.
He, however, promised Nigerians that a comprehensive review would be carried out to determine what went wrong on how to improve and prepare for the next Olympic Games.
”As a responsible organisation, we have swung into a review process. We shall evaluate the competition readiness of every athlete comprehensively, including their injury and medical history within the limits of patient confidentiality. The role of coaches and administrative staff will also be examined.
”There must be a lot of lessons to learn from our performance and improvements must be made in all ramifications. The last time we returned from the Olympics without a medal was in 2012. The next two Olympics after that we’ve had a bronze medal in 2016 and a silver and bronze in the 2020 Olympics.
”As a country, we deserve more. Let’s turn the disastrous outcome of the 2024 Olympics to a huge positive for Nigerian sports,” he added.
