Nigerian Performance in the Beijing Olympic Games

The Nigerian representatives in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing China had very little to offer when it came to games like meter race, swimming, discus and short put throws, basketball and volleyball for both men and women, to mention but a few.

I watched on the CNN live broadcast on the Olympic Games on Sunday 17^th August some interesting sports which many famous countries like the Jamaicans, Americans, UK, Italy, China and others participated but the Nigerian team was found wanting in these games.

The most annoying aspect is that most of these athletics from various countries are blacks. One from the Nigerian watching the live event on TV would feel that some may have come from Nigeria which may be true if we investigate.

The Nigerian Government from our local news source disclosed that over 1 billion Naira was spent on the sponsoring of the Nigerian team and the representative at the 2008 Olympic Games. Looking at the poor performance of the Nigerian team, many citizens would vote that such amount of money be used for other meaningful projects to at least improve the standard of living in the country.

It's something clear that the main performing group of the Nigerian team is the football men group. In fact let me conclude that the football men team has being the main reason for the Nigerian performing in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The brain behind their laudable performance has being the effort of the Supper Eagle coach, Sampson Siasia and his colleagues. He is the one to thank because of his commitment irrespective of the little attention by the Nigerian government towards sports.

In the other hand, his team has been a wonderful type. The players are carefully selected to do the job of winning the gold medal for Nigeria. The most brilliant victory was a 4-1 defeat against Belgium which launched them into the final of the men's competition with intriguing ovation in Shanghai. It's not so amazing that they are doing for the second time after the 2006 Atlanta Olympic Games.

The huge potentials of the Nigerian team are positively influenced by support from the Nigerian government and facilities put in place on the country's sports arenas. For example, the men football team would not have performed if no strong coach like Sampson Siasia and the Nigerian government fully sponsoring them.

Other games are as well harnessed if only there will be full time sponsorship by the government and long term planning before any Olympic Games comes up. Nigerian has all the potentials needed and from experience, will one day take the lead in the Olympic Games if only the problems are revisited and solved.