Nigeria @ the London Olympics
Jul 31st, 2012 by admin
The 2012 Olympics opened last Friday. It was huge and expensive coming across as beautiful and creative. I particularly liked the choice of hymn, “Abide with me” performed by singer/songwriter Emeli Sande. It was a spectacular rendition of the classic hymn. However, at some point during the ceremony, I did pick my nails. This year’s games had about two hundred plus countries displaying their national flags with a sense of pride and purpose. The ceremony provided entertainment as the world united under the platform of sports.
The history of the games dates back to ancient Greece when wars were suspended so city-states could come together and compete. Legend has it that the ancient Olympic games was founded by Heracles (the Roman Heracles), a son of Zeus. The first Games held in 1896, under the auspices of the IOC was hosted in the Panathenaic stadium in Athens. At the games 241 athletes from 14 countries participated. Nigeria first participated in the Olympics in 1952. Nevertheless, Nigeria boycotted the 1976 summer Olympics.
Therefore, as the nation’s flag is proudly hoisted at this year’s Olympics in London, Nigerians are hoping team Nigeria will make us proud. The team will be participating in eight events in London namely athletics, Taekwondo, basketball, boxing, Triple jump, table tennis, weightlifting, wrestling and our newest event canoeing; Nigeria will be participating for the first time. However, Jonathan Akinyemi has crashed out. He represented Nigeria in her first-ever KI men’s slalom. He had won African’s sole slalom ticket in South Africa in February by defeating Togolese Benjamin Boukpeti, who won a bronze medal in the Beijing 2008 games. The 23 year old who was born in the United Kingdom funded his way through most of the qualifying games. .
I will be rooting for team Nigeria hoping that the funding problems that built up prior to the summer games in London would not demoralise the athletes. Nevertheless, the games should be another opportunity for our athletes to do us proud. In any case, team Nigerians should forge ahead without scandals and compete with a focus, returning with more medals than they won at Beijing, China.