Olympics medal count does not represent potential, says Ladipo

Tasks ministry, NOC to start planning for Los Angeles 2028
Former Nigeria’s rugby national team captain, Azeez Ladipo, has declared that with over 200 million population, comprising large number of youths, the country has no business playing second fiddle to any country in African sports.

He said Nigerian sports administrators should be worried that the country has won only three gold medals since featuring at the Olympics when countries like South Africa, Kenya, Ethiopia, Egypt and Morocco, among others, boast double of that number.

Speaking ahead of the Paris 2024 Games, which is less than eight months away, Ladipo blamed failure to develop long term strategies for success and poor investment in sports as reasons the country still struggles at international meets.

Ladipo, a member of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) Athletes Committee, as well as the general manager of Nigeria Rugby Federation (NRFF), urged the Ministry of Sports Development and the sports federations to e power ‘lesser sports’ to thrive, adding that the country could mine talents from these sports to excel at the Olympics.

“With a population of over 200 million people, a record of only three gold medals in the history of the Olympics is not good enough for the country. It shows that we are not a serious sports country. Countries like Kenya, South Africa and Ethiopia have the highest number of gold medals at the Olympics.

“We cannot just start preparing to win gold medals at the Paris Olympics and succeed. Such things are done immediately after the Games.

“The way forward is for the federations to start exposing athletes to such international competitions as the African Games and Commonwealth Games ahead of the 2028 Olympics in USA.

“Long term planning