NIGERIANS must commend the Under 23 Olympic football team for winning the only medal for the country in the just-concluded Olympics in Brazil.
If not for the team, Nigeria would have had another disastrous outing at the Olympics like we had in London four years ago where we did not win a single medal.
The bronze by our footballers is just to reduce our shame; it is unfortunate that as big as the country is, we can’t produce athletes who are world-class.
It is more painful when small countries like Jamaica, Honduras, among others, were winning substantial medals at the Olympics, and our athletes could not measure with their global counterparts.
I will not want to blame the athletes but the sports authorities in the country.
The preparation for this year’s Olympics was even more shoddy than the previous ones, and it was only by divine grace and the determination of our footballers that we brought home a medal.
Our sports authorities should wake up to their responsibilities and invest more in the country’s sports development.
- Stanley Adjei,
Benin,
Edo State.