Nigeria concluded the 2024 Paris Olympics without securing a medal. Hannah Reuben’s loss in the Women’s Freestyle 76kg event early Saturday ended the country’s slim hopes of reaching the podium. She was defeated 5-2 by Mongolia’s Enkh-Amaryn Davaanasan in the round of 16, marking a disappointing performance for the West African nation.
Team Nigeria entered the Olympics with high expectations following strong performances in qualifying events. They participated in 12 events but, as in previous Games, were unable to replicate their continental success on the Olympic stage.
Despite sending around 77 athletes to Paris, a series of heartbreaking losses and administrative lapses resulted in Nigeria returning home empty-handed. The last time Nigeria failed to win a medal was at the London Games in 2012.
President Bola Tinubu had approved ₦12 billion for the country’s participation in the Olympics and Paralympics, with ₦9 billion allocated to the former and ₦3 billion to the latter.
In response to Nigeria’s poor performance at the Paris Olympics, the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, described the outcome as a disaster.
“Yesterday, I met with gentlemen of the press at the Nigerian Embassy in Paris for a press briefing following the country’s participation in the 2024 Olympics. As we go back home, we must do everything to prevent future occurrences of the Paris disaster and if this will entail the review of how people are elected to lead our sporting federations, it will be done.
“The elections for the federations are around the corner, and it will be the perfect platform to get only those who are most eligible to lead the various sports federations,” he wrote on his X handle on Saturday.
“Team Nigeria’s disappointing performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics, where the country did not secure any medals does not entail being addressed just by our participation at the Olympics, but it is a product of very many other things that need immediate attention.
“We did everything as a ministry to prepare the athletes adequately and provide them with every financial support, but unfortunately, the performance did not produce any podium finish,”
Nigeria’s showing at the Paris Games were before now replicated in of 1952 Helsinki, 1956 Melbourne, 1960 Rome, 1968 Mexico, 1980 Moscow, 1988 Seoul where the country won no medal.