Paris 2024: NOC bemoans Nigerian inability to qualify

Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) President, Habu Gumel, has raised the alarm over the low number of Nigerian athletes that have qualified for next year’s Paris Olympic Games. He lamented that Nigerian athletes have not been attending some of the qualifiers for the Games because of inadequate funding.

Speaking at a joint meeting of the NOC, the sports federations, and the sports ministry, Gumel said that Nigeria currently has only qualified for eight slots at the forthcoming Olympics, a situation which, he added, is not encouraging as the country is one of the top sporting nations of the world.

“As of today heading into the Olympic year 2024, our nation has only qualified three athletes, one each in cycling and wrestling. This is a far cry from expectations, even though we are still hopeful of qualifying more athletes, especially with the women’s basketball and women’s football teams still engaged in their qualifying series,” he said.

He renewed the call for stakeholders to test-run their readiness for the 2024 Olympic Games by using the African Games for both qualification and awareness drives.

The NOC president noted that after several postponements of the 13th Africa Games (AG), which will be finally hosted by Ghana from March 8 to March 23, 2024, in Accra, the AG will offer opportunities for Nigerian athletes to book their tickets for the Paris Olympics.

According to Gumel, of the 29 sports on offer at the African Games, eight will be Olympic qualifiers and seven demonstration sports.

“It is hoped that Nigeria, which has performed well in past African Games, will use the opportunity of the AG to qualify more athletes for the Summer Games in Paris, a city famed as the citadel of Love.

“But some top Nigerian athletes and teams will not be at the Olympics because they failed to participate in the mandatory qualification events. We need to change the status quo to achieve results. Right now, the Olympic qualification system, for both individual and team sports, are ongoing at different levels. The qualifiers are worth monitoring and well-sponsored as not qualifying more athletes for the Olympics would not only bring down the chances of a podium finish but also reduce the number of official Team Nigeria contingent to the Olympic Games,” he said.

The NOC president pleaded with the Ministry of Sports to help in the qualification series for more athletes to earn their Olympic tickets.

“The failure of any federation, athlete, or team to feature in one or more qualification tournaments lined up by the international federations ahead of the Olympic Games would mean automatic self-disqualification from the Olympics.

“However, all parties are determined to ensure Nigeria surpasses its 1996 Olympics feat, which is the country’s best so far.”

Also speaking at the meeting, the president of Nigeria Triathlon Union (NTU), Adewale Oladunjoye, emphasised that Nigeria would require massive funding of teams by the Ministry of Sports.

He pointed out that getting private bodies to collaborate with the ministry to sponsor athletes for the Olympics might not be easy because of the current economic challenges in the country.

“Although the Sports Ministry has called for collaboration with the private sector, it must be noted that this sector is facing fluctuating fortunes in sourcing the scarce foreign exchange to stabilize their businesses,” he said.