The Minister of Sports Development, Thomas Abidoye, has apologized to Nigerians over the country’s poor performance at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Abidoye, in a statement, acknowledged that the performance of Team Nigeria was below expectations and fell short of the nation’s objectives and hopes.
“I accept that our performance should have been a lot better. It obviously fell short of our objectives, expectations, and hopes of Nigerians. I must apologize to our compatriots and reflect on what went wrong while looking forward to the Paralympic Games, Paris 2024,” he said.
The Minister explained that when he assumed office in August 2023, he was confronted with the task of executing four international competitions, including the AFCON, African Games, Olympic Games, and Paralympic Games, within a short period. He noted that the Olympic Games is the world’s supreme sports competition, and countries require at least four years to prepare for it.
Abidoye revealed that the ministry had embarked on a progressive approach to drive forward the performance of athletes and coaches, including the constitution of a Ministerial Podium Performance Advisory Committee to streamline methodologies and training methods. He also noted that the choice of training facilities in Germany was based on positive recommendations from the ministry team.
Despite these efforts, Abidoye expressed disappointment that the performance of Team Nigeria was underwhelming. “We owe Nigerians an explanation. As a responsible organisation, we have swung into a review process. We shall evaluate the competition readiness of every athlete comprehensively, including their injury and medical history within the limits of patient confidentiality. The role of coaches and administrative staff will also be examined,” he said.
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