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Home |   About Us |   Contact Us |   Members |   Search |   Subscribe |   Disclaimer |   THE GUARDIAN CONSCIENCE, NURTURED BY TRUTH LAGOS, NIGERIA.     Wednesday, August 25 2004   news   editorial/opinion   policy & politics   focus/record   business   sports   capital market   metro   arts   money watch   energy   maritime   Guardian Chat Click to join the chatroom Nigeria at the Olympics SIR: The 2004 Olympics being held in Athens is almost at an end and our country, Nigeria has not been able to win a medal, whatever the colour, after hoping for at least 10 medals. How do you get 10 medals in a competition you did not train or prepare adequately for How do you pass an exam you did not read or study hard for I agree that not all the countries that were at the Olympics won medals but at the same time, these countries did not bother with events they knew they had no glimmer of hope. During one of the heats for the 400 metres event, our athlete, Salamotu was not only the last of the lot, but was so far behind that the cameras practically forgot she was actually part of the sprinters for that event. Did she not have coach Did they not have a time frame they were working towards Did they not study other athletes over time looking out for new techniques Her finishing time was absolutely disgraceful " one minute plus while others where in the 50-56 secs category. Do not get me wrong, we don't have to win all the time but please, we could lose gracefully at least not too far from the target. What about other events Did they not realise they are competing for the world's best titles Why would we not prepare and be shoddy in our presentation Why is it that Nigerian athletes excel when they join other countries A perfect example is Francis Obikwelu winning the silver medal in the 100m sprint " not by fluke but by a very tight margin of only one hundredth of a second. Can you imagine him during his lap of honour waving the red and green Portuguese flag and feeling proud of his great accomplishment I don't blame him. I assure you that if he was running for Nigeria he would not even qualify after the first round of heats. Obviously, Portugal would have given him all the assistance required for his training to enable him excel and he is therefore grateful for that. Our athletes have the talents but are not been trained nor are they been financed properly. I wish we would not go to the next Olympics without adequate preparation so as to stop making spectacles of ourselves in the eyes of the world. We should already start training and preparing as if it was next year. We should also stop asking for prayers all the time. As we all know "Heaven helps those who help themselves." The ministry of sports should please take their athletes seriously and do what is necessary for adequate training before public appearances. I also think our burnt out athletes should gracefully leave the stage and make room for the younger talents. We should also bring back sporting events and competitions that used to take place at the secondary school and university levels. From these, new talents will be discovered and given adequate training. We should not sit down and watch all our talents win medals for other countries. I doff my hat to the Super Falcons because they indeed made us proud even though they did not get to the finals. I must say they appear to be a more serious bunch than any of the others put together. At least they left their mark on the sands of time. Olabopo Osita-Odiachi` e-mail: [email protected] � 2003 - 2004 @ Guardian Newspapers Limited (All Rights Reserved).  Powered by dnetsystems.net dnet�

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