Under the scorching sun in Beijing’s cloudless sky, 89, 700 people thronged the Bird’s Nest to watch Nigeria play Argentina at the final match of the Olympic football tournament. Nigerians filed in en masse in national colours as the Embassy staff distributed national flags to thousands of Chinese and international supporters.
Temperature was 38 degrees Celsius but the weather didn’t dampen the enthusiasm in the stadium or slow down the football fans who snaked in the National Stadium. The time was 12noon in Beijing, 5a.m in Nigeria and 3a.m in Saudi Arabia where President Musa Yaradua was at the time of the match. About 10a.m Beijing time, the President made a call to members of the Nigerian Football team, the coach and members of the Nigeria Olympic Committee from Saudi. “I have every confidence that you will bring the gold home he said” whilst assuring the team that he would stay tuned to watch the match from Saudi. After winning every match at the Olympic tournament (save for the draw in the preliminaries against Holland in Tianjin, China on August 7) the Nigerian team was poised to win gold. Ibrahim Isa, the Olympic attaché who coordinates between the Olympic Committee BOCOG and the Nigerian Embassy had made preparations for a celebration at the Embassy grounds after the game. “I am confident that we will win he said as he prepared to go to the stadium.” A tough match ensued between Nigeria and Argentina at 12noon. During the first half of the game, the teams showed off their skills and but played in reserve. Within 15minutes of the second half, Argentina’s Di Maria scored a goal in the brief moment during which the defense team was left open. In spite of the fifteen minute extra time, Argentina’s goal remained the lone goal that gave them the gold medal making Nigeria second in the game with the only silver medal at the Olympics. Mobile activity was in high gear as Nigerians at the stadium communicated with Nigerians at home about the match. A deflated Ibrahim Isa shared his feelings: “Well, they tried their best but their best didn’t spark us enough. I said before that the city of Beijing would have been too small for us today if we had won. I am a little depressed now but the boys have done us good. Though the gold was not given to us, but they were really determined and they played a good game.”
Tears beaded the eyes of many Nigerians making them unwilling to give comments. Chris Baker: an Australia citizen based in Beijing also commented, “I came here to support Nigeria and I had a blast watching them play. It was a great game.” Although it was 5a.m, Nigerians at home were also watching. Darius Fela says” We didn’t have light so I woke up early and went to a hotel close to my house to watch it. I still have a headache from all the screaming. I am sad but I have to give it to them, the boys played a good match.”
They say the journey is usually more valuable than the end. The Nigerian team played with the weight of 140million Nigerians. They gave Argentina a hard game and brought us our lone silver medal since the beginning of the games.
The Beijing Summer Olympics end on Sunday August 24 and so far Nigeria has won three medals: silver in football, bronze in women’s long jump and bronze in the women’s 4 by 1 relay.
Ebun Olatoye
Beijing China
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