Since the hype about this year’s Olympics began,
not many Nigerians have expressed optimism on the chances of medal
haul at the summer Games in Beijing, China.
For some, Nigeria will as usual be making up the
number of countries present in yet another huge sports fiesta, while
others believe Beijing will be a good learning point for the athletes.
It now behoves on the Team Nigeria contingent to prove that
they are in Beijing for real.
It is said that to whom much is given, much is
equally expected. This may have formed the premise from which
Nigerians have come to predict the country’s prospect of winning
medals. It is not a hidden fact that Team Nigeria got half of
what big countries like Russia, USA, Japan, and Canada spent preparing
for this event.
At the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, the Dream Team
won the soccer gold, Chioma Ajunwa surprised the world by winning the
long jump event with a leap of 7.12 metres, David Izonretei and Duncan
Dokiwari gave Nigeria bronze medals in boxing. That feat happens to be
Nigeria and Africa’s biggest achievement at the Olympics so far.
And to avoid a ghost hunting Olympic participation,
the National Sports Commission cut down on the size of athletes and
events Nigeria will participate. According to the NSC, it will be
better to spend funds and efforts on those sports that have high medal
prospects than be in Beijing with unnecessary squad.
Nigeria is banking on athletics, football, boxing,
judo, taekwondo, swimming and wrestling for medals. For athletics, the
country parades names that only pose as threat on the surface. Nigeria
has the likes of Damola Osayomi, Franca Idoko, Gloria Kemasoude,
vastly improved Obinna Metu, Africa’s fastest man Olusoji Fasuba,
Uchenna Emedolu and Gooday James.
Much is expected from athletics and soccer which
happen to be a veritable haunting ground for the nation’s Olympians.
Fasuba, Metu and Emedolu are under pressure to
deliver what their predecessors did at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles
where the country’s men’s 4x400m relay quartet of Sunday Uti, Moses
Ugbusie, Rotimi Peters and the legendary Innocent Egbunike stormed to
a bronze medal finish.
Eight years later in Barcelona, Spain, it was the
turn of the women’s 4x400m. Anchored by Mary Onyali, the Nigerian team
which also had Faith Idehen, Christy Opara-Thompson and Beatrice
Utondu, inspired the men’s team comprising Chidi Imoh, Davidson Ezinwa,
Olopade Adenikan and the late Oluyemi Kayode to win silver in the
4x400m relay race which was won by the Americans.
In Atlanta, USA, the country’s women’s 4x400m
consisting of Bisi Afolabi, Charity Opara, Fatima Yusuf and Falilat
Ogunkoya, finished a remarkable second behind the host nation. That
same year, Nigeria’s Dream Team went on to clinch soccer gold
with a 3-2 defeat of Argentina in the final.
In the shot put event, Vivian Chukwuemeka will try
to keep her record as one of the queens to be reckoned with, while in
Taekwondo, the only internationally exposed Chika Chukwumerije, holds
high prospect for Nigeria.
However, the country’s chances in swimming are at a
greatly disadvantageous spot and may not present anything to write
home about. Our administrators should have known that in the aquatic
event, you can’t help but admire the prowess of the Americans,
Chinese, Australians and Canadian swimmers. This is one area that
holds little or nothing for Nigeria. Daniel Igali, the Nigerian-born
Canadian wrestler, is drilling the wrestlers on new techniques adapted
by champions.
And as the Games begins, Nigerians would be hoping
that there won’t be a repeat of the Seoul ‘88 disaster.
Christine Ohuruogu knows that there are all kinds
of sh*t. She even did her university thesis on it, exploring the
origins and usage of swear words. "I began looking at why they get
certain connotations, why some are considered bad," she said.
This might be deemed particularly relevant to
Ohuruogu, who accepts that the three drugs tests she missed in eight
months mean people view her through different lenses, but she says she
is content with life as she prepares for a tilt at the Olympic 400
metres title.
Intriguingly, she also revealed that there may be
two Ohuruogus at the next Games in London. "My little sister, Vicky,
is with the Newham 2012 club," she said. "She’s only 15 but she’s kind
of serious. It’s going to be hard for her because of me, but such is
life."
The elder Ohuruogu is a complex character. She
calls herself a scatterbrain but has a linguistics degree; she is a
world champion but remains an outsider; she talks of the sacrifice she
made to train alone and triumph at those World Championships in Osaka,
but then reveals she almost did not bother going to Japan. "I was
being drug-tested in Glasgow after running there and I missed my
flight from London to Hong Kong," she said.
"I thought if I have to go home with my bags to my
apartment then I’m going to pull out of the team. It wasn’t my fault.
It so wasn’t my fault. I didn’t get the chance to shower or anything.
It was horrible." She managed to get a flight one hour later. The rest
is history. "It just defined who I am," she said of the ensuing
controversy. "I’m a bit more robust than I would have been. I think it
just sharpens you as a person."
On paper Ohuruogu is a medium to long shot for the
gold. Sanya Richards, the American, is a hot favourite, having run
quicker than Ohuruogu’s season’s best of 50.80 seconds on eight
occasions this year. After Ohuruogu won gold in Osaka, where Richards
missed the 400m after falling ill at the US trials, the American
trotted off four better times than the Briton’s winning mark of 49.61.
That time would not have won any of the last eight Olympic finals, but
there is a lingering question mark over Richards’ health. Last year
she was diagnosed with Behcet’s Syndrome, which affects the immune
system and can be brought on by stress.
"My coach says that when you run a 400 it’s not
about who’s the fastest or strongest, but who wants to get to the line
first," Ohuruogu said. "Also, when you run fast you put a strain on
your body and that’s when you can get injured. The stronger you get
the weaker you get. It’s a long season so what’s the point running
fast too early?"
If form can be misleading, Ohuruogu believes seeing
the likes of Richards in action while warm-weather training in
California will hold her in good stead. "It was an eye-opener," she
said. "People say the Olympic final is hard, but those meets had it
all. That’s why they are so strong. You can train all you like but if
your head’s not right then you are going down the pan."
The pressure is mounting on Ohuruogu to defy the
odds and there is a chance that she may win another medal in the
4x400m relay. "The hardest thing is getting through the heats, but if
three of us get to the individual final who are you going to put in
the first round of the relay?" Ohuruogu asked.
The main question remains can she become the first
British woman to win the Olympic 400m title? The closest were Ann
Packer and Lillian Broad in the 1960s, while Kathy Cook and Katharine
Merry added bronzes in 1984 and 2000 respectively.
Ohuruogu believes she is in good shape but does not
like to over-analyse matters. "In my thesis I looked at what swear
words mean because you can get nouns, verbs, expletives, but really it
was just a whole lot of garbage thrown together." She is banking on
the pieces coming together when she starts her Olympics on Saturday.
