NIGERIA, Africa’s most populous country, did not go into the just concluded 2023 African Games which began on March 8 in Ghana with a poor record. Apart from Egypt, the most successful country in the history of the games with a total of 1620 medals, Nigeria was a country of note in second place with 1326 medals, while South Africa in third place with a total of 1054 medals and Algeria with 1028 medals completed the Top 4. Besides, Nigeria, along with Egypt, was the only country to have participated in all editions of the games, a continental multi-sport event designed for Africans and organised by Africans, held every four years and taking place a year before the Olympic Games. This year, the games featured a total of 29 sports divided into three categories, namely Olympic qualifying sports (8), non-Olympic qualifying sports (15), and demonstration sports (6). Out of the participating countries, only four, namely Egypt (7), South Africa (3), Nigeria (1) and Tunisia (1) had ever emerged overall winners. The African Union, in collaboration with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the Association of African Sports Confederations, jointly organises the continental festival, the 13th edition of which just ended in Accra, Ghana, after 15 days of battle featuring over 5,000 athletes from all countries across the continent. The African stage is set for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Happily, history was made again as Nigeria emerged runner-up with 47 gold, 34 silver and 40 bronze medals. This recalled the 2015 and 2019 editions of the games when Nigeria also came second, behind Egypt. The 2023 champion is of course Egypt, host the next edition of the African Games in 2027, which had a haul of 189 medals comprising 101 gold, 46 silver, and 42 bronze medals, while South Africa occupied the third spot with 106 medals (32 gold, 32 silver, and 42 bronze). Algeria emerged as the fourth-best country at the fiesta with 114 medals comprising 29 gold, 38 silver, and 47 bronze, and Tunisia completed the Top 5 with 87 medals (21 gold, 27 silver, and 39 bronze). Ghana, the host country, fought gallantly but it could not make the top five.
Rather, it ended in the sixth position with 19 gold, 29 silver and 20 bronze medals. ruled the Athletics event with 11 gold, six silver and five bronze medals. Tobi Amusan won her third consecutive African Games gold medal in the women’s 100-metre hurdles, then steered the women’s 4×100 metres team to a gold medal. Ese Brume retained her crown in the women’s long jump, while Chukwuebuka Enekwechi ruled the men’s shot put. The country also shone brightly in the boxing category with eight gold, two silver and two bronze medals. Indeed, Nigerian boxers seemed to have taken out the country’s socioeconomic frustrations on their opponents when they won eight gold medals in one day! But it was in the weightlifting category that Team Nigeria recorded the biggest medals haul. The team garnered 32 medals, including 16 gold, 10 silver and six bronze medals. It was a classic case of resilience encapsulated in the slogan, “No gree for anybody.”
The 2023 African Games indeed produced many glorious moments for Nigeria. For instance, following the games, Nigeria’s Odunayo Adekuoroye is now ranked No. 1 globally in the 57 kg category with 49000 points. Adekuoroye defeated Zineb Hassoune of Morocco by a pinfall to win gold in the 57kg category at the 13th African Games. According to United World Wrestling’s latest rankings, she is followed in the second position by Anastasia Nichita of Moldova with 47200 points, and Tsugumi Sakurai of Japan with 45000 points. Daniel Igali, the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, enthused: “This ranking gives us added motivation to prepare adequately for the Olympics. We came with 15 athletes, won nine gold, one silver, and two bronze medals. We had 10 women, and they won nine gold medals and one silver. We are now getting ready for the 2024 Oceania/Africa Olympic qualifiers, which start on 22 March-Greco Roman on the 22nd, female wrestling on the 23rd, and freestyle on the 24th. Our goal is to qualify for about five or six slots.”
To say the least, Team Nigeria showed a lot of resilience to earn 47 gold, 33 silver, and 40 bronze medals across 25 sports at the competition. Among other things, it is now clear that when Nigerian athletes engage in weightlifting, they do so with maximum dedication to the craft. Given the distressing socioeconomic conditions foisted upon Nigerians by governmental ineptitude, the impressive record posted by Nigerian athletes at the Ghana games are indeed worthy of celebration. Although the Flying Eagles put up a disappointing performance with Coach Ladan Bosso fishing for excuses after the team’s ouster, and although the Falconets were dethroned by hosts Ghana, Team Nigeria put up a soul-lifting performance overall, and deserves all the flowers and red roses it can get, particularly given the conditions in which it had to fight for medals. In this case, the lethargy of the Establishment in congratulating the team is unfortunate.
We celebrate the athletes for their resilience, passion, patriotism and grit at the games. They showed the results of talent and team work. Nigerians are not likely to forget in a hurry, the mixed 4x400m relay event during which Emmanuel Ojeli, Patience Okon-George, Sikiru Adeyemi and Omolara Ogunmakinju shattered the African Record set at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Ojeli had handed over the baton in second place behind Botswana to Patience Okon-George, who pushed Botswana to second place on the second lap. But Adeyemi faltered on the third lap of the race as Botswana’s Bayapo Ndori regained the lead and created a distance of over 20 metres between himself and Adeyemi in the process. It seemed that Botswana was going home with gold. Then Ogunmakinju stepped in, closing the 20-metre deficit within just 30m to the finish line and earning Nigeria gold in a time of 3:13.26!
Thank you, Team Nigeria and the coaching crew. We wish you greater successes in future events.
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