Beyond The Medals — A different look at Paris 2024

Cacophony fills the Nigerian sports space. From the ashes of the country’s participation at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games springs the shrill of anger and condemnation.

In the past one week, Nigerians have collectively vented their anger and frustration at those they perceive to have caused thecountry’s failure to return from Paris with a single medal. They are baying for the blood of sports officials, especially that of the Sports Minister, because the buck of the calamitous ‘failure’ of the athletes stops at his desk. They ask: How can a country of over 200 million people, and that expended N12 Billion Naira fail to win a single medal?

Pierre de Coubertin, founder of the modern Olympic Movement, will be quivering in his grave: since when has winning medals become a matter of size of a country, or population, or amount of money spent on the eve of the event, or wishful thinking, or unearned expectations?

Fundamentally, every country goes to the Olympics with all the athletes that achieve the qualifying standards through pre-Olympic competitions, and not on their likelihood to win medals. That’s why Nigeria went with 82 qualified athletes. Of this number, how many, realistically were expected to win any medal?

In Paris there were 10,500 athletes from 205 countries. How many can win the 329 medals at stake? Are the other over 10,000 athletes’ failures?

To win any medal is not a stroll in the part. It is earned on the fields of competition. To even get to the Olympics is a painstaking ‘journey’. The 100 metres finals will last only 10 seconds. What is required to get to that point is training hard for six to nine hours every day for several years; surviving health, fitness and unforeseen challenges; competing against hundreds of