Nigeria at 2024 Olympics: We fell short of expectations, sports minister apologises

Nigeria at 2024 Olympics: We fell short of expectations, sports minister apologises

Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, on Sunday tendered an unreserved apology to Nigerians for the poor outing of the country’s team at the just-concluded 2024 Paris games, Olympics.

Nigeria, which competed in many sporting events including balls, cycling, wrestling and athletics, ended the games without a medal.
The minister said the team had fallen short of expectations.
“The Olympic Games, Paris 2024, have 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 apologise to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024 (August 28 – September 8th).”

Enoh recalled, “When I assumed office as the Minister of Sports Development in August 2023, I was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions namely the AFCON, the African Games, the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a matter of a few months.

“I was also reminded that the Olympic Games is the world’s supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it.
“I held extensive discussions with the management staff of the Ministry and got to know that preparations for the Olympics, which was less than a year away, had not started.”
The minister credited President Bola Ahmed Tinubu for ensuring that funds were not a limiting factor.
He added, “Athletes competition requirements were provided, allowances
were paid early, and training grants were disbursed to all athletes.

“I made myself readily available to deal with any issue throughout the competition.
“Therefore, the underwhelming performance of our team is puzzling. We owe Nigerians an explanation.”
He also said a lot of lessons were learnt from the performance and improvements must be made in all ramifications.

He urged the sports men and women in Nigeria to “turn the disastrous outcome of the 2024 Olympics to a huge positive for Nigerian sports.”