Hannah Reuben’s early loss in the Women’s Freestyle 76kg bout on Saturday dashed Nigeria’s last hopes for a medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics, marking a disappointing conclusion to the country’s campaign.
Team Nigeria entered the Games with strong performances in qualifying events, competing in 12 sports. However, like previous Olympics, the nation’s continental dominance failed to translate into Olympic success. A combination of close defeats and administrative issues led to Nigeria returning home without a single medal for the first time since the London 2012 Olympics.
Despite President Bola Tinubu approving 12 billion naira for the Olympics and Paralympics, with N9 billion allocated for the former, Nigeria’s efforts fell short, particularly in track and field events, where the country had placed significant medal hopes.
In track and field, Favour Ofili reached the semi-finals of the 200m, becoming the first Nigerian to do so since Atlanta 1996, but she did not secure a podium finish. Similarly, Udodi Chudi Onwuzurike and Ezekiel Nathaniel fell short in their respective events’ semi-finals, and the men’s 4x400m relay team was disqualified after a lane violation, further compounding Nigeria’s woes.
World record holder, Tobi Amusan was another medal hopeful but was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100m hurdles, finishing third in her heat with a time of 12.55 seconds, which was not enough to advance.
In the women’s long jump, Ese Brume, Ruth Usoro, and Prestina Ochonogor made history by all reaching the final, but none managed to secure a medal, despite it being the first time three Nigerians had made it to that stage in the event.
However, Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, provided a glimmer of hope by making history as the first African team, male or female, to reach the quarter-finals of the Olympics. Although they lost 88-74 to the United States, their spirited performance was a rare bright spot in an otherwise disappointing Olympic campaign for Nigeria.
Team Nigeria will be looking forward to participating in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles, United States of America.
