Peter Agbebaku
28 August 2008
opinion
The quadrennial Olympic Games have always been about the celebration or emergence of individuals and nations at the world stage. The Beijing Games signal the economic capability of China which invested 43 billion dollars (about N5.03 trillion) to host the world's greatest sports event.
The Games have also been used to celebrate individual sportsmen and women whose
performance has been out of the ordinary. American Mark Spitz's 36-year-old seven gold medal haul in the 1972 Munich Olympics remained unassailable until the arrival of compatriot Michael Phelps.
Phelps went one step further by setting aside Spitz's gold medals record when he swam to eight gold medals in Beijing.
Who knows how long Phelps' record will stand?Jamaican Usain "Lightning" Bolt's two world records within five days in Beijing is another big plus at these Games. Last Saturday on the fast tracks of the Bird's Nest, Bolt improved on his own record when he set aside the mark he set barely three months ago in New York.
The Jamaican underlined the track power of the Caribbean nation when he clocked 9.69 seconds in the men's 100 metres to send his former time of 9.72 to the archives.
As if that was not enough, Bolt laid to rest Michael Johnson's 12-year-old 200 metres record of 19.37 seconds when he returned in 19.30 seconds. With records being set in the swimming pool and on the tracks, one man who has also caught the eyes of the soccer world is Nigeria's tactician, Samson Siasia, the Chief Coach of Dream Team IV, the country's Olympic team.
The former attacker has guided his side, affectionately referred to as Dream Team IV, to the final of the soccer event. He first came to world attention in 2005 when he took the U-20 team to the final of the World Youth Championship in Holland, losing 2-1 to Argentina in the final.
He has proved beyond doubt at the Beijing Games that the 2005 outing was no fluke. Siasia, 41, won 46 national caps and scored 13 goals for the Super Eagles in an illustrious career, which saw him play for leading clubs in Nigeria before going abroad.
He played in Belgium, France, Portugal, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Australia before retiring to take up coaching. Siasia handled under-14 and under-16 teams in the U.S. before taking up his job in Nigeria.
When he was first appointed in 2005 to handle the U-20 side, he had to source for funds from his home state government in Bayelsa, with which he prepared the team for the African Youth Championship.
Even then, the NFA wanted the money turned over to it but he stood his ground, insisting that the money was given to him on his personal recognition. Siasia assisted his team mate Augustine Eguavoen to lead the Super Eagles to the African Nations Cup bronze medal in 2006.
He rejected an offer to assist Amodu Shaibu in the Super Eagles. The Bayelsan-born coach now carries the burden of a country hankering for success in Beijing where all other athletes have almost failed.
Siasia's doggedness and insistence, even when the National Sports Commission and Nigeria
Football Federation wanted things done their own way, have paid off.
He could not execute his programmes for the Beijing Games to the letter. He could not obtain U.S. visas for his players nor was he able to spend more than a week in Portugal to prepare
his team. Players he had invited failed to honour the invitation.
Up until the team's departure for South Korea, he was vilified for leaving out Mikel Obi, but he stood his ground, insisting that if the Chelsea midfielder ignored invitation to take part in the qualifiers, he had no business going to the Games.
In spite of the constraints, Siasia has soldiered on with his boys, recording a sublime performance which will be the envy of many top club managers in the world.
He has kept faith with many of his 2005 players, including those who have not signed for foreign clubs, and they have not disappointed anyone.
Former Green Eagles left winger Adokiye Amiesimaka says Siasia has vindicated his position that Nigeria no longer needs a foreign handler.
With the top quality performance of the Dream Team IV in China, there is no doubt that the Beijing Olympics have been Siasia's just as they have been for Bolt and Phelps.
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