Nigeria not ready to break Olympics’ gold medal jinx in Paris, Igali says

Daniel Igali

Contrary high hopes that the country may finally win another gold medal at the forthcoming Paris 2024 Games, Nigeria Wrestling Federation President, Daniel Igali, has said that the country is not prepared to break that jinx.

Nigeria’s last Olympics gold medal was won at the Sydney 2000 Games where the 4×400 metres men’s team won a silver medal, which was later converted to gold by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), following the disqualification of the U.S. team for fielding adrug offender in the final race.

Since then, the country has not repeated the feat they first achieved at the 1996 Games when Chioma Ajunwa and the men’s football team gave the country two gold medals.

Nigeriais preparing for the Paris 2024 edition of the games with the hope of surpassing its performance at the Tokyo Games, where Nigeria won only one silver and one bronze medal.

But Igali, a gold medallist for Canada at the 2000 Games, doused such expectations yesterday in Lagos when he said that the country has not done anything in the past four years to suggest that it is ready to be among the world’s best in any of the sporting events at Paris 2024, He said: “It takes constant preparation, meticulous planning and participation in major international competitions to get an athlete ready for the Olympic Games.

“For an athlete to dream of a medal at the Olympics, he must be among the top four in his discipline. Then you ask yourself, how many Nigerians were among the top four in their events at their respective World Championships last year?

“You don’t wish for success; you work for it,” he said. Igali said the country’s athletes have been hampered by poor funding from the Federal Government, adding that Nigeria’s sports