Paris Olympics: 87 athletes make list of Nigeria’s contingent at Paris 2024 Olympic Games
Team Nigeria numbering 87 athletes in 12 sports will represent Nigeria at the 2024 Olympic Games with athletics contributing the highest number of 35 made up of 17 male and 18 females.
Football came a distance second with 18 players to play for the Super Falcons at the Games while the women’s basketball team, D’Tigress will aspire for podium appearance with 12 athletes.
Interestingly, Wrestling, table tennis and boxing have six, four and three AthIetes respectively while canoeing, weightlifting and aquatics contributed two each with cycling having just one competitor.Nigeria have won a total of 27 medals at the Games made up of three gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Athletics contributed 14 of the medals made up of two gold, five silver and seven bronze
Nojim Maiyegun won Nigeria’s first medal at the Games, clinching the bronze medal in the men’s middleweight at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics.
Additionally, Nigeria will participate in four sports in the Paralympic Games. The country has a strong history of success at the Paralympic Games, having won 40 gold medals, 19 silver medals, and 21 bronze medals, totaling 80 medals to date. The nation is set to extend its medal haul in Paris.
Nigeria recorded her best performance at the centennial games in Atlanta, USA where they won six medals made up of two gold, one silver and three bronze.
Meanwhile, Sports Minister, John Enoh has stated that Team Nigeria is primed for success and has no excuse to fail, as the nation counts down to the start of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
He emphasized that with the full backing of the President Bola Ahmed Tinubu-led Government, which approved 100% of the Olympic budget, the onus now lies on the contingent to repay the President’s goodwill and make the nation proud.
“We have no excuse to fail,” Senator Enoh stated. “The President has approved the entire budget, and it is now up to us to reciprocate this goodwill by making the nation proud. Expectations are high, and I have faith in the abilities of our athletes.”