The Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh has blamed Team Nigeria's failure to win a single medal at the just concluded 2024 Paris Olympics on a lack of preparation time.
He made this known on his verified X handle while issuing a public apology to Nigerians.
"When I assumed office as the Minister of Sports Development in August 2023, I was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions namely the AFCON, the African Games, and the Olympic and Paralympic Games in a matter of a few months.
"I was also reminded that the Olympic Games is the world's supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it. I held extensive discussions with the management staff of the Ministry and got to know that preparations for the Olympics, which was less than a year away, had not started," he said.
He further revealed that federations prioritized qualification over preparations and efforts on his part to question selection were resisted strongly.
"After the African Games, subsequent meetings were limited to the Federations that had bright chances of qualifying for the Olympics. Medals projections were made by all the Federations, although their athletes were still trying to qualify; which lasted until about June 2024.
"The concerned Federations obviously prioritized qualification over preparations for the Games. This seems to have always been the case. This has to change.
"At the end of the qualification period, the selection of athletes and coaches was the absolute responsibility of each Federation. A few attempts to question selection after I got complaints were strongly resisted and defended," he stated.
Enoh also noted that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu ensured that funding was not a limiting factor, with competition requirements, athlete allowances, and training grants all provided on time.
"Given all these efforts, the underwhelming performance of our team is puzzling. We owe Nigerians an explanation," Enoh stated. He emphasized the need to learn from this experience and make significant improvements across all aspects of sports development," he said.
