Obasanjo sets target for 10 medals
From Olukayode Thomas,
Athens
THE long wait is over. The 28th edition of the modern Olympic Games begins today at its birthplace, Athens in Greece.
The Nigerian contingent has been tasked to be fired by the zeal to excel at the Games by President Olusegun Obasanjo.
In a goodwill message to the Nigerian contingent, the President charged the Nigerian representatives to strive and win at least 10 medals. He also urged them to steer clear of doping, age falsification and all other forms of indiscipline.
More than 16,000 athletes from 202 countries, including Nigeria, will for the next 17 days showcase the best of sporting activities and personalities across the globe.
It is the biggest multi-sports fiesta on earth. The modern Olympiad, now appropriately tagged: "The Greatest Show On Earth" has transformed into a spectacle that charms and excites all whenever it makes quadrennial appearance on the global calendar. Its inaugural edition was held in Athens 108 years ago.
The training is done, the stadia are ready, the spectators are waiting, and the gladiators will soon take over the centre-stage.
The athletes' part in the show is to contest, according to the rule of the games formulated by the International Olympics Committee (IOC) and various international sports federations and associations.
The fiesta is coming to Athens after Greece lost its spirited bid to host the 1996 edition. The loss would have been a centennial celebration of the Olympic Games in the city where it all started in 1896. It went to Atlanta.
Atlanta did not win the hosting right on a platter of gold. The purists were all for Athens. Returning the games to its birthplace after 100 years, they reasoned, would rejuvenate it spiritually. It is like going back to one's roots to reinforce and face the challenges of the future.
But the businessmen, armed with calculators, soon discovered after an intense period of cost-benefit analyses that while Athens, the soul of the modern Olympics could reinvigorate the Games, Atlanta would provide the needed cash and profit margin. They won.
Athens, the birthplace of the ancient Olympics in 776 BC, and the modern one in 1896, had to wait for another day. The day was September 5, 1997 at the 106th IOC Congress in Lausanne, Switzerland.
Bidding alongside rough contestants like Buenos Aires, Cape Town, Rome, Rio de Janeiro, San Juan, Seville and St. Petersburg, it was Athens and Rome that qualified for the second stage.
In the final round with Rome, Athens won by 66 votes to 41.
This year's fiesta is significant in many respects. Like its predecessors, Barcelona '92, Atlanta '96 and Sydney 2000, there will be no boycotts, thanks to the thawing of the cold war ice.
Also, there is a hundred per cent record attendance. Afghanistan, which could have been the odd one out after a suspension in 1999, and was enforced partly because of the Taleban's ban on participation of women athletes, has been readmitted.
Some 28 sports will be represented in 38 venues. A total of 301 medal ceremonies will take place over a period of 16 days. About 215,000 journalists are expected at the games. The Olympic Village will house 16,000 athletes and team officials.
Some 45,000 security personnel are due to work at the Olympics with 60,000 trained volunteers from around the world.
The IOC will give just over $1 billion to the Athens Organising Committee from the sale of broadcast rights and worldwide sponsorship, which is roughly 60 per cent of the Games' operating budget.
The Games' official mascots are Phevos and Athena, who are brothers and sisters. They derive their names from two Olympian gods: Phevos, the god of light and music, known as Apollo, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and patron of the city of Athens.
In his goodwill message, President Obasanjo wished the Nigerian contingent " a most memorable Olympics." He said: "We shall continue praying for your success, while awaiting your return to a befitting reception, with a bag full of medals."
On the medal hopes, he said: "I am sure with requisite determination to make history and lift up the name of the country. We can truly excel."
The president named the medal hopefuls to include Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, Deji Aliu, Olu Fasugba, Endurance Ojokolo and Uchenna Emedolu. The rest are Mercy Akide, Rita Nwadike, Linda Ogugua and Julius Negedu.
On indiscipline and other forms of athletic offences, the president said: "Together, we must deploy the games as a potent public relations and a veritable international image management podium where the world will come to further appreciate our goodness as a people."`
