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New Page 18
Team Nigeria eyes gold as Olympics open
CLEMENT NWANKPA Jnr
WHEN
the 28th Olympiad opens today in Athens, Greece, Team Nigeria will be faced with
the task of meeting a projected 10-medal haul.
Both Sports Minister Col. Musa Mohammed (rtd)
and the ministry’s Director of Sports Development, Patrick Ekeji believe the
team could attain such height,
Such optimism is predicated by the fact
that, like the Abuja 2003 build-up, the athletes had embarked on training
tours abroad.
If the Nigerian contingent grabs 10
medals, it will be the nation’s biggest since debuting at the Olympics with nine
athletes in Helsinki 1952.
Mohammed and Ekeji did not emphasise on
the colour of the medals, but despite participating in 11 previous editions,
Nigeria has won only two gold medals through Chioma Ajunwa (long jump) and the
male football team at Atlanta 96.
With 85 athletes, the sports authorities
will pray that the number translates to 10 medals, but it would be recalled that
with 91 athletes at Sydney 2000, Nigeria won three silver.
A breakdown of the Nigerian contingent
that will be led out by team’s captain Mary Onyali-Omagbemi shows that athletics
will feature 26 athletes, boxing seven, basketball, 12; football, 22 players;
judo, 2 and swimming two.
Taekwando will file out with three, table
tennis, eight weightlifting 12, and wrestling one.
Meanwhile, Dimitris Papaloannou, Artistic
Director of the opening and closing ceremonies of Athens 2004 has expressed the
host’s readiness for the three-hour ceremony that would herald the official
beginning of the Olympics today.
Beyond the hosts battle to stage an event
that could meet or surpass the spectacle presented by Sydney 2000, hailed as one
of the best opening ceremonies of all time, the organisers have to contend with
security worries for the duration of the Games.
Following the September 11, 2001 bombing
of the World Trade Centre (WTC) in the United States (U.S.) there are fears of
Al-Qaeda attacks at Athens 2004.
Since the killing of 11 Israeli by
Palestinian guerillas at Munich 1972, the Olympic movement have braced up for
terrorist motivated attacks.
Athens 2004 Organising Committee ATHOC
Chief Gianna Angelopoulos has battled to allay security fears, but the
organiser’s major test comes at the Olympic Stadium, Athens, this evening.
Since becoming the smallest city to host the Olympics
since Finland, will Athens successfully dwarf the glamour of Sydney 2000 opening
ceremony?
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