As the blame game for Nigeria’s failure to win a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games rages on, Nigeria Coaches Association president, Gabriel Opuana is drawing the attention of Nigerians to the role the various Olympics sporting federations played in the debacle.
Sports Minister John Owen Enoh is under fire for the dismal outing of the 88-man Nigerian contingent, but Opuana a former national hammer throw champion and coach of the Nigerian throwers at the 2024 Games, argued that the real culprit of the failure are the sporting federations, most especially the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
“Though the Sports Ministry has major drawbacks in the scheme of things, it was up to the sporting federations to ensure that their athletes are adequately prepared for the Games,” Opuana said from his base in the USA.
“The Minister came in just one year to the Olympics; what programmes were on ground to drive the athletes’ preparations? It is not the job of the sports ministry to run competitions and training programmes.
“Though the federations would complain that there was no funding, why then do we federations boards? Is it not to source for funds to their programmes? Every Federation that did not win a medal at the Olympics should hold their board members responsible.
“Every four years is the same cry, and nothing happens. The Corporate bodies should also be called out for not sponsoring enough sports programs.
Opuana submitted that federations like the AFN board spent a better time of their tenure fighting over issues that were not in any way helpful to the development of athletics.
“How many competitions did they organised two years leading to the Olympics? There should have been competitions every week where the athletes can choose whichever they want to attend like it is done in here America.
“But that is not the case in the AFN. Because of the infighting and name calling among members, the Premium Bank sponsorship the AFN president Tonobok Okowa managed to secure was lost.
Opuana submitted that the first step towards making good preparations for the 2028 Olympics would be to constitute boards of federations that are productive and not counterproductive.
“There are Nigerians out there who can make valuable contributions to the growth of our sports.
“Being an ex-international is not an automatic ticket, we should be looking at those who are capable and having the wherewithal to make a difference.
“The ex-internationals on the board of the AFN what have they been doing? They are the ones who were supposed to give directions to the federation, they are supposed to drive in sponsorships, but they became antagonistics.”
