Voice of Nigerians in Beijing.

The world has anticipated the Beijing 2008 Olympics for four years. The games began on August 8 and end today August 24 with China in the lead with 46gold medals, the U.S in the lead in total number of medals- (93 and counting) and countries like Jamaica surpassing any previous performance at the Olympics with 5 gold medals. Nigeria participated in 10 Olympic sports namely: Athletics, Badminton, Boxing, Football, Judo, Swimming, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting and Wrestling. On August 22 hours before Nigerian won its first two medals, Ebun Olatoye captures the voice of Nigerians in Beijing as they do a post mortem of Nigeria’s performance at the 2008 Olympic games.





Amos Adamu
Director General: National Sports Commission

“Well for the performance of our teams we are not disappointed at all because we know where we are coming from and we know the level of our athletes. Most of the athletes performed better than their best. We have a weight lifter who is now number five in the world. She didn’t win a medal but to rate as number five in the world you know what that means. We also have another lifter who is number 13 in the world. For the first time our table tennis single men-Segun Moses Toriola got to number 15 in the world. In Nigeria’s history at the Olympics we haven’t reached so high a number. So for us it is a very good performance that our athletes have put up. Also the football players are doing incredibly well. They have reached the finals and if they win tomorrow we will win a gold medal. Our female 4 by 1 relay team has also made finals, which means they are one of the eight best in the world.”

Dr. Amos Adamu was the Director of Sports in Nigeria from 1991 till 2007. He became Director General of the National Sports in Commission in 2007. The women’s relay team won the bronze medal hours after this interview.


Engr. Habu Ahmed Gumel
President of the Nigeria Olympic Committee

“Our performance in Beijing is better what we did at Athens in 2004. So also when we get to London 2012 there will be an improvement. The Olympics is a meeting of the whole world. When you participate at the Olympics you do your best and test your ability against the best in the world. Some of our athletes have performed very well. You can see what we have done in football and we are now at the finals. But there is still a lot to do so we can improve in terms of preparation of the athletes and for funds to be released at the right time. This is key because you cannot prepare or train without funds. The private sector must come and support what the government is doing.”

What plans have we set in place for the London 2012 Olympics?

We must start preparing from now. To prepare an athlete it takes four years. All countries do this.

Did Nigeria start preparing for the Beijing games immediately after Athens 2004 Olympic games?

We didn’t prepare like we should have done, but this time around we will start immediately.

Engr Gumel has presided over the Nigerian Olympic Committee for two consecutive Olympics..




Hafsat Abiola Costello
Founder KIND- Kudirat Initiative for Democracy

“There is a dictum, which we ignore at our peril: if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. Nigeria participated in 10 sports at this Olympic games. By the semifinals, we had been eliminated in all but two games: athletics and football. Our hope medal comes from these two games. What distinguishes us from China, leading in gold medals? Or the USA, with many silver, bronze and some gold? Or perhaps more realistically, Ethiopia, which has 6 medals including gold. It is not talent that distinguishes us from them. Our best athletes are probably as capable of winning medals as the best of other countries, and we see this when Nigerians serve on other national teams like Samuel Adelebari who now runs for Qatar. Our failure is our inadequate preparation. This year's Olympics is already at an end. Before 2012 in London, let us focus on providing our athletes with the support and training facilities that they need to excel. The athletes are willing to perform for the country but they need the country to step up with organizational support so that their performances win medals.”

Hafsat Abiola-Costello lives in Beijing China with her husband and children.


Earnest C. Ebi
Deputy Governor Central bank of Nigeria

“Of all the games at the Olympics I have only been able to follow the football and our performance there has been very impressive. I just arrived in Beijing on Tuesday so I missed most of the matches but I saw them on television. In fact, since I came, Chinese people who are ardent fans of our football team have given us special treatment and recognition all because of our performance at the football games. Everywhere we go when they find out we are Nigerians they want to take pictures with us and want us to sign autographs for them. This is a clear indication of how important sports is to the image and development of a country. So if we raise the level of our sports and extend it to a lot of other areas, it will take the country to the next level. I feel very proud to be a Nigerian right now.”

Ernest Ebi returned to Nigeria on Friday August 22.



Sani Ndanusa
President of the Tennis Federation and Third Vice President Nigerian Olympic Committee and Chairman of technical Commission.



“Well I happen to be the president of the technical committee in the Nigerian Olympic Committee. I cannot say we had a well-articulated preparation. We could have been better in preparation with a long-term preparation not a fire brigade approach. At the end of every Olympics other countries begin preparing for the next Olympic games. In this regard I would like to see better preparations from Nigeria for 2012. By now we should have penciled down the athletes that we will train for the next Olympics and we should have started looking at how they will be camped and groomed to compete at other international events before the Olympics. That is my advice for the National Sports Commission.”

How would you rate Nigeria’s performance at the Olympics?

Having mentioned the level of preparation of our athletes, you can see that what we couldn’t have expected more than what they did. We have every hope that we will get back home with the football gold medal, which matters a lot for Nigeria being a football nation. We have the talent and we have the institutional capacity to develop sports in Nigeria. Generally we have to go back to the basics to reinforce our foundation and build for higher grounds especially now that we have a vision to be among the top 20 countries in the world by the year 2020 and that also goes for Sports. The rest of the world is not waiting and watching so we have to fast track our development in Nigeria. In the area of sports we can choose eight specific Olympic sports and devote all our energy, funds and focus to develop them from grassroots. Each one of the sports should have academies where they are trained regimentally and academically.”

Do you think this can be achieved in Nigeria?

Yes of course. We have the capacity.


Sani Ndanusa established a lawn tennis academy in Kaduna, Kaduna State.





Ambassador Ba U. Eyo
Embassy of Nigeria in China.

His Excellency speaks on the upsides and downsides of heading the Nigerian embassy in the Olympics host city.

“Nigeria and China have a very good relationship as you must know. Although that relationship could be better in terms of China issuing visas and residence permit and extensions for our citizens. But apart from that, I think it is a lifetime privilege to be Ambassador in the city where the Olympics is hosted. Even though this position has over stretched us all round at the embassy here, it remains a great privilege.”


Performance of Nigerian Olympians at the Beijing Olympics:

“The sad aspect is that Nigeria is not doing well and we know we are not doing well because they did not prepare. This is because those responsible did not have facilities to prepare the athletes. Maybe there is hope that we win gold at the soccer. It is a big shame. Think of Atlanta twelve years ago even before then. We discussed with the Minister for Sports to find that what is happening and he is very concerned. The idea is that those responsible and those in government should revert to what it was in the past. Sports should be groomed from the grassroots level to the national level and then international level. It has to be a profession. The athletes have to go for competitions. It is a sad story but that is what we deserve because we did not prepare. Imagine if you register a child in school and that child abandons classes, there is no way he can do well. When the exam comes there is no miracle, he will fail. We cannot go to sleep and expect to get any laurels it is not possible. Not in the real world. We hope those who matter will resolve this matter and do like others do so that Nigeria can also shine.”



Ambassador Eyo resumed office at the Nigerian Embassy in Beijing China in May 2008.