|
|
Nigeria: Yar'Adua Olympic 8 Gold
 |
 |
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
|
||||||||||
Vanguard (Lagos)
EDITORIAL
12 May 2008
Posted to the web 13 May 2008
THE 2008 Olympic Games begin in Beijing, China, on August 8. They will run until August 24. Much of the talk about the Games has been on the Tibetan protest, denying some the opportunity of knowing the Games are only 12 weeks away.
Presidential aides do not fully appreciate the Olympics. This much they showed in President Umaru Yar'Adua's address to the Nigeria Olympic Committee meeting in Minna. The President said he wanted eight Olympic gold medals. He did not say what he would do if he got less, or none.
How would Nigeria win eight Olympic gold medals? How much does it cost to win an Olympic medal? The answers vary from one country to the other. What is clear is that an Olympic medal ambition is an expensive venture that draws deeply from various resources.
These include provision of financial, technical, medical, technological, emotional and nutritional resources to take the competitor and his officials to Olympian heights. Many countries commit many years of research into the Olympic plans of their national teams. Even in those cases, there are no guarantees of rewards, at least not instantly.
Nigeria is a peculiar case. Her President's only words about the Olympics, after one year in office, are his desire for eight gold medals. His government has not approved ONE KOBO for the Olympic effort. Debates over money for the Games are still raging.
There are also indications that the Minister of Sports/Chairman of the National Sports Commission (a body that has no legal backing), Mr. Abdurrahman Hassan Gimba, is enthusiastic about Nigeria's participation at the Games. He thinks that the country has no chance of winning a medal. He could be right.
His attitude is, however, wrong. He has failed to draw the attention of the government he represents to the problems of the Olympic team, or the larger issues that affect sports. A minor part of that could be getting a legal backing for the setting up of the National Sports Commission.
While some countries spend a minimum of eight years in mapping out the Olympic ambitions of their competitors, taking them through various levels of trainings and competitions that key into the Olympic Games, Nigeria has the most uncoordinated approach to the Games, no thanks to the failure of government to talk less and do more about sports.
Nigeria did not attend the qualifying rounds of many events. The events that Nigeria has qualified for are not going to be easy. The Nigerian team has no approved funds for the Games, it is a recurring issue governments refuse to accord any serious treatment. The concerns never go beyond cosmetic statements about sports.
|
President Yar'Adua must have bases for his expectations. He can be assured that he would be disappointed. When that happens, he may finally ask questions about how to make sports work for Nigeria and win Olympic gold medals by 2012 though the number may still not be eight.
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Copyright © 2008 Vanguard. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Top | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search | Subscribe | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
