Team Nigeria seeks better outing at London Olympics

When the athletes flying Nigeria's flag at the London
Olympics begin their events, their aims will not be to
just feature in the Games but to win medals and etch
their names in history. They have the chance, just as
every athlete from other participating nations, to
return home with medals.
Nigeria's first medal at the Olympics was at Tokyo
1964 when Nojim Maiyegun won bronze in the men's
light middleweight boxing. Since then Nigeria has
won a total of 23 medals, three of which are gold.
While some analysts do not believe the Nigerian
contingents can come up with a result in London,
others are holding onto the faith that Team Nigeria
has the potential to be world champions.
The most memorable of Nigeria's outing at the
Olympics remain the Atlanta'96 where Chioma
Ajunwa leapt to gold in the women's long jump and
the Dream Team defeated star-studded, Brazil and
Argentina on their way to wining gold in football
event.
The football team came close to repeating the 1996
feat at the Beijing Olympics but Argentina would not
let that happen again, not with Lionel Messi inspiring
the South Americans. Besides the entertaining
football, the other high points of the Games were
Chika Chukwumerije's bronze medal finish in
taekwondo, Blessing Okagbare's third-place finish in
the women's long jump and the bronze won by the
women's 4x100m relay team.
The comment from many Nigerians after the Beijing
Games was if only they had put in a little more effort
perhaps Team Nigeria could have finished with four
gold medals.
All that could change in London as Chukwumerije
and Okagbare get another chance to grab gold on the
world stage, and the basketball team make their first
Olympics appearance following a fairy-tale qualifying
round in Venezuela.
One salient part of Nigeria's achievement at the
Olympics is the performance of the boxers. After
Maiyegun's bronze medal finish at the 1964
Olympics, Nigeria got back on the medals table in
1972 and 1984 through boxing.
At the Munich'72 Olympics, Isaac Ikhouria narrowly
lost the chance to be in the boxing final but
eventually finished with bronze in the men's light
heavyweight class.
Peter Konyegwachie, however, did better than his
predecessors when he won the first Olympics silver
medal for Nigeria in the men's featherweight at the
Los Angeles'84 Games. David Izonritei and Richard
Igbineghu were to add to the silver achievement with
their performances at the Barcelona 1992 Olympics.
In all, boxing has fetched five out of the 23 medals
Nigeria got at the Olympics. The number is likely to
increase as Muideen Akanji, Lukman Lawal and Edith
Ogoke begin their medal quest in London next week.
Besides boxing and athletics, only weightlifting and
taekwondo have won medals for Nigeria at the
Olympics. But the performances of canoe and table
tennis athletes at recent qualifiers around the world
have raised the hope that Nigeria may just finish
with medals in these events.
When Ruth Ogbeifo won silver at the Sydney 2000
Olympics, it did not surprise many because she had
won bronze at the 1999 World Championships in
Athens. In fact she was tipped to win the gold until
Colombia's María Urrutia overtook her in the -75ks
class.
This time, it will be Felix Ekpo and Maryam Usman
lifting the weights in London. Usman finished fifth at
the Beijing Olympics and won bronze at the 2011
World Championships in Paris, but this year, she has
won gold at the African weightlifting championships
in Kenya while preparing for the Olympics.
Nigeria may not have the likes of the late Sunday
Bada, Davidson and Osmond Ezinwa, Falilat
Ogunkoya and Olusoji Fasuba in London, but the
Team Nigeria in London cannot be underrated,
considering their recent performances at major
events.