Tag: Paris 2024

The President, Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), Dr Ibrahim Abdul has stressed that important lessons have been learnt from the country’s unimpressive outing at the just concluded Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Dr. Abdul also lauded  the valiant efforts of his two Weightlifters: Rafiatu Folashade Lawal and Joy Ogbonne Eze who gave a very good account of themselves in their various weight classes but narrowly missed medals. 

Lawal, competing in the women’s 59kg, came 5th  overall after putting up a spectacular show including lifting a personal best.

The 2023 Africa Games champion lifted a combined 230kg to place 5th . She had a lift of 100kg in snatch and pulled 130kg in clean and jerk. 

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She was just 11kg away from the gold medalist, Luo Shifang of China who clinched the revered accolade with 241kg lift total and barely 5kg off the medals zone with Charron Maude of Canada winning the silver with a total of 235kg while 30 years Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Kuo Hsing-Chun won Bronze with 235kg total.

For Eze who was the 2019 and  2023 Africa Games champion her 101kg lift in snatch and 131kg lift in clean & jerk with a total of 231kg, were not enough to land her in the medals zone as she ended her campaign 7th overall in her debut Olympic Games.

The NWF President said that with better preparations and more exposure ahead of future competitions, the two lifters and their contemporaries have what it takes to excel in the sport.

He thanked the President  Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the release of funds for the Olympic Games while  commending the hard work of the Sports Ministry headed by Senator John Enoh and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) with Engineer Habu Gumel in charge.

“It was not the Olympic Games we dreamt of but I must commend my both Weightlifters for their commendable outing in Paris. Rafiatu Lawal was very close to securing medal while Joy Eze also tried her best,” Dr Abdul told the NWF Media.

“What we have learnt from the Olympics is that we have to prepare better and expose our lifters to more international competitions for them to regularly compete with the best. It was an opener for us as a Federation and we shall work on it ahead of future competitions.

“I must specially thank the President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his love for sports and the release of funds for the Olympics. The Sports Ministry with Senator John Enoh in full charge did a good job too and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) headed by Engineer Habu Gumel ensured all sports were properly coordinated during the games.”

Dr Abdul assures that the NWF will soon do a post-mortem of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and proffer a way forward to ensure the country Weightlifters get the best of attention for upcoming competitions. 

The Super Falcons were full of guts and gumption, but a 37^th  minute strike by Gabi Nunes separated the two-time Olympics silver medallists from the nine-time African champions as the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament got off to a roarious start.

Rasheedat Ajibade led the Falcons to the turf of the Stade Matmut Atlantique, as Nigeria’s flag was flown at the tournament for the first time in 16 years, and truly led from the front with some excellent runs down the left of the South Americans. But her team mates at the fore failed to read her moves correctly on the several occasions she sent the ball into the box.

Her final pass, after a brave run down the line in the seventh  minute was blocked, and in the 16^th  minute, she was the initiator of a double-barrelled attack on the Brazilian goal that saw Chinwendu Ihezuo’s shot blocked and Christy Ucheibe’s follow-up punched away.

In the 20^th  minute, Chiamaka Nnadozie saved from the rampaging Portilho, and again read well a long-range drive by Gabi Nunes five minutes later. In the 36th minute, ageless Brazil captain Marta thought she had given her team the lead when she struck past Nnadozie as the Falcons’ defence failed to clear, but she was ruled offside.

Moments later, the Nigerian defence was again caught napping, and Gabi Nunes, set free by a wonder of a pass by Marta, fired past Nnadozie, the ball cantering in from the underside of the bar.

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In the closing moments, the Falcons broke forward with a sweet team move, only for Jennifer Echegini’s lift to rise above the opposition goalpost.

On the hour mark, Marta’s dipping curl from the left was thwarted by the upright, and Nnadozie saved from Ludmila three minutes later.

Ajibade forced another smart save from the Brazilian goalkeeper in the 71^st  minute, and Ucheibe did the same with minutes left. But the Canarinhas held on to pick all three points in the evening.

Next up for the Super Falcons is a clash with world champions Spain – who defeated Japan 2-1 in Group C’s opener – in Nantes on Sunday evening. 

Paris Olympics supremo Tony Estanguet said that the city was “ready” for the Games as he played down complaints from some residents and businesses about the impact of the event.

 “We are ready as we head into the final phase,” Estanguet told a press conference in Paris, five days from the opening ceremony on  Friday.

He added: “For as long as the closing ceremony hasn’t finished, we need to remain vigilant. But today we are exactly where we would have dreamed of being a few years ago.”

Finishing touches are being applied to the venues across the City of Light and thousands of athletes and officials are pouring in, while the weather has brightened up after months of rain.

In a further boost for organisers, the water quality of the river Seine – which is set to be used for outdoor Olympic swimming events – has also improved dramatically since the start of July.

“All the indicators for the Seine are positive at this stage,” Estanguet added.

The river is set to host the opening ceremony which will see 6,000-7,000 athletes sail down it on 85 barges and boats.

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It will be the first time a Summer Olympics has opened outside the main athletics stadium, with up to 300,000 ticketed spectators set to watch from stands and on the river banks and another 200,000 expected to watch from the overlooking apartments.

Around 4,000 tickets are still available for the ceremony, Estanguet said.

“We’ve always tried to maintain as high a level of ambition as possible so that these Games make France shine,” Estanguet added.

The vast security operation for the opening ceremony is causing some friction, however, with large parts of central Paris along the banks of the river and around Olympic venues off-limits for most people.

Trade groups representing Paris shops, restaurants, bars and clubs complained on Friday that they were facing an “unprecedented slump in business and footfall”, blaming in part the “heavy security measures”.

 “It was always a choice made in full conscience that the success of Paris 2024 would mean having the Games in the city,” Estanguet explained. “That was the completely unprecedented concept for Paris 2024.”

As well as the opening ceremony in the heart of the city, much of the sport is set to take place at temporary venues around Paris, with beach volleyball at the Eiffel Tower, archery at the Invalides and skateboarding at the Place de la Concorde.

 “We can’t do it without some disruption. We can’t do it without some restrictions,” Estanguet said.

He thanked “those who have understood this because it’s really to honour our country in the most beautiful way.”

Around 45,000 members of the French security forces are set to be on duty on Friday when the Olympics kick off at 7:30pm (1730 GMT).

 “Security was the number one priority for Paris 2024,” Estanguet said.

Cyber security is also a major concern, with a global IT outage last Friday caused by an update to CrowdStrike software leading to temporary disruption to accreditation system for the Games.

The International Olympic Committee has said it is bracing for disinformation attacks targeting the Paris Games following recent incidents blamed on Russia, in response to a near-ban on Russian athletes because of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

When he started out running in the early 2000s, a young Eliud Kipchoge simply wanted to get on a plane and go to Europe.

Two decades later, the Kenyan marathon legend is heading to Paris for what could be his final challenge at the 2024 Olympics.

At 39, he says he is hoping to make history on August 11 by becoming the “first human being” to win the Olympic marathon three times in succession, overtaking Ethiopia’s Abebe Bikila (1960, 1964) and Waldemar Cierpinski of Germany (1976, 1980).

It was in Paris in 2003 that the then 18-year-old made a thunderous international debut, snatching the 5,000 metres world championship gold ahead of favourites Hicham El Gerrouj and Kenenisa Bekele.

But Kipchoge’s first major prize ended up being his only one on the track.

It was on the road, which he turned to after failing to qualify for the 2012 London Olympics, that he would achieve glory.

Eliud Kipchoge stormed on to the global athletics stage in 2003 in Paris when he became 5,000 metres world champion

With his long, metronomic stride, he has twice broken the marathon world record – streaking to 2:01:39 in 2018 and 2:01:09 in 2022.

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He is the only man to have covered the 42.195 kilometre (26.2 mile) marathon distance in under two hours, albeit during a specially organised, unofficial race in Vienna in 2019.

He has won 16 of the 20 official marathons he has run since 2013, including 11 victories in the majors (five in Berlin, four in London, one each in Tokyo and Chicago), alongside Olympic golds in 2016 and 2021.

The youngest of four children, Kipchoge was raised by his mother, a kindergarten teacher, in the village of Kapsisiywa in the foothills of Kenya’s Rift Valley.

His father died when he was a baby.Young Eliud loved running but didn’t dream of glory.

 “Running is normal in our village, in our community, you run up and down to school, to the shopping centre,” he told AFP in an interview.

He decided to take a chance in athletics, “but it was not about aiming to become a big runner… I just wanted to get into a plane and fly to Europe,” he said.

“I didn’t know that being an athlete can put more food on my table for my family and my siblings.”

As a teenager, he often spotted a neighbour during his training sessions, someone he had watched on television winning silver at the 1992 Olympics: 3,000 metre steeplechaser Patrick Sang.

In 2001, Kipchoge approached him to ask for a training programme and Sang scribbled one on his arm.

 “Then he kept coming for more,” said Sang.

 “At that moment, I could not say that there is something special about this guy. But in retrospect… I can say that this is somebody who knew where he wanted to go. He was really determined.”

Since then, the two men have barely left each other’s side, developing a quasi-filial relationship.

Kipchoge devotes his life to running, carefully recording each of his training sessions in notebooks.

Since 2002, he has lived nine months a year at an elite camp run by management agency Global Sports Communications in Kaptagat, a village in western Kenya at an altitude of 2,500 metres.

He rises early, with eating, shopping and rest punctuating his monastic existence. He meets his wife and three children on weekends at the family home in the neighbouring town of Eldoret.

His spartan lifestyle contrasts with his income estimated at several million dollars, the fruit of his victories and world records but also sponsorship deals with companies such as Nike, INEOS and Isuzu.

True to his origins, Kipchoge also owns a dairy and maize farm, and a tea plantation.

His taste for reading (favourites include Paulo Coelho and Stephen Covey) and love of mottos, as well his cool composure, earned him the nickname “philosopher”.

He is an enthusiastic sports fan – a supporter of Tottenham football club, keen on motor sports, boxing and ultimate fighting, two sports in which he sees a parallel with the marathon.

 “These people train for six months and fight for 15 minutes. And you can be knocked out in a few seconds.”

As a marathon runner, Kipchoge has known little failure but in Boston in 2023 he came sixth and was 10th in Tokyo in March this year – his worst ever finish.

 “In Tokyo, I spent three days without sleeping,” he told the BBC in May after experiencing months of online harassment and even death threats.

Trolls accused him of being involved in the death of Kenyan marathon prodigy Kelvin Kiptum who was killed in a car crash in Kaptagat in February, just months after beating Kipchoge’s world record.

 “I received a lot of bad things: that they will burn my investments in town, they will burn my house, they will burn my family,” Kipchoge said, adding that he lost “about 90 percent” of his friends.

Kipchoge was deeply affected by the ordeal but said he had to bounce back.

 “Marathon is life, you find ups and downs, you become tired, you hit the rock, you come back,” he said.

Of his protege’s hopes in Paris, Sang said: “That’s his dream, to make history, to win a third Olympic title.

 “Look at the span of years he has been at the top. More than 20 years. That is history in itself.”

The House of Representatives has  pledged the sum of N100 million to Nigeria’s team for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

This was as the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, assured the athletes of the House’s support in their quest for medals. He emphasized the importance of sports in national unity, youth engagement, and economic growth.

Abbas also announced that the House and its members would make personal contributions to support the athletes.

He called on well-meaning Nigerians to support the athletes.

Represented by his deputy, Benjamin Kalu, he praised  the athletes for their dedication and hard work.

He  urged them to make Nigeria proud at the Games.

 “I am conveying the decision of the leadership of the house to you. To kick the ball rolling, we are supporting you with a sum of N100 million.

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 “Proper funding and support must begin years in advance to ensure our athletes are adequately prepared. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, has made commendable efforts to reinvigorate the sports sector and the National Assembly will support him fully in this regard,” he said yesterday.

Minister of Sports Development, John Owan  Enoh, and members of the 2024 Olympics/paralympic, who were at the green chamber, presented the lawmakers with the newly unveiled Olympics sports kits.

The member representing Dutsin-ma/Kurfi federal constituency of Katsina, Hon Balele Aminu, also presented the team with a N3 million cheque.

The Olympics is scheduled to start on July 26 and will run till August 11.

Apart from  Senator Enoh,  the  ceremony was also witnessed by President of the Nigerian Olympic Committee, Engr. Habu Gumel; and the President of the Paralympic Committee of Nigeria, Sunday Odebode.

The event was a tribute to the late Chairman of the House Committee on Sports, Hon. Ekene Abubakar Adams, who had initiated the hosting of the athletes.

The Speaker observed a minute’s silence in his honour and praised his dedication to sports development.

Nigeria and Canada senior women teams go toe-to-toe for the second time in one year in a closed-doors training match in Malaga which amounts to the final test for both teams ahead of the Women’s Olympic Football Tournament starting in France in eight days.

The match will commence at 6.30pm Spain time (5.30pm Nigeria time) at the La Quinta Football Centre, Malaga. It also draws the curtain on the Super Falcons’ camping programme in Spain. 

Both teams were involved in a hard-fought FIFA Women’s World Cup Group B opener at the Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on 21 July 2023, with the game ending 0-0. Nigeria’s goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie saved a penalty kick by veteran Christine Sinclair, and made 14 other big saves in the afternoon encounter.

Coach Randy Waldrum is unlikely to make many changes from the squad that played that match, though defender Ashleigh Plumptre and forward Francisca Ordega, who started that match, are not in Spain.

Waldrum will most likely stick with goalkeeper Nnadozie, defenders Osinachi Ohale, Oluwatosin Demehin and Michelle Alozie (alongside, perhaps Chidinma Okeke), and midfielders Toni Payne, Christy Ucheibe and Deborah Abiodun.

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The strike-force may be entirely different with captain Rasheedat Ajibade (who missed the clash with Canada in Melbourne due to a red card bagged in the Women AFCON semi-final clash with Morocco in July 2022) coming in, alongside perhaps Uchenna Kanu and Chinwendu Ihezuo.

The nine-time African champions will fly into France tomorrow , where they will spend a week in further training ahead of their first match of the tournament against Brazil at the Stade Bordeaux on Thursday, 25^th  July.

Nigeria’s other matches in the group phase are against Spain (28^th  July) and Japan (31^st  July), both at the Stade de la Beaujoire in Nantes.  

. Omotayo, others get opponents July 24

Following the official seeding list, Nigeria’s Quadri Aruna and Egypt’s Omar Assar have been seeded in 14^th  and 16^th  places respectively in the Men’s Singles of  the Table Tennis event  of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games

Also, the likes of Nigeria’s Olajide Omotayo, Egypt’s Mohammed El-Beiali, Algeria’s Mehdi Bouloussa, Senegal’s Ibrahima Diaw, and Congo Brazzaville’s Saheed Idowu are expected to know their first round opponents when the draws take place on July 24.

According to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF), the seeding list was based on the ITTF World Rankings released on July 16.

Aruna who is ranked 19^th  in the world has been seeded 14^th  while Assar rated 22^nd  has been seeded 16th and they are expected to begin their campaigns from the second round of the Men’s Singles.

In the Women’s Singles seeding list, Egypt’s Dina Meshref missed the top 16 list by a whisker to concede the 16^th  place to WTT Contender Lagos champion, India’s Sreeja Akula.

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With this development,  Meshref who is seeded 17^th , and her compatriot Hana Goda seeded 20^th  will begin their campaign from the second round of the Women’s Singles.

Nigeria’s pair of Offiong Edem and Fatimo Bello as well as Cameroon’s Sarah Hanffou and Algeria’s Lynda Loghraibi will also begin their quest for glory from the second round of the Women’s Singles.

As table tennis celebrates its 10th appearance at the Olympic Games, this list sets the stage for captivating battles across all categories.

World No. 1, China’s Wang Chuqin takes the top seed in the Men’s Singles event and he is followed by compatriot and Tokyo 2020 silver medalist, Fan Zhendong.

There will be fierce battles in the Team Events and Mixed Doubles. China remains the top seed in both Men’s and Women’s Team events, but established teams like Germany and Japan are determined to dethrone them.

In the Mixed Doubles, China’s Wang Chuqin and Sun Yingsha, the top seeds, will face stiff competition from Japan’s Hina Hayata and Tomokazu Harimoto who are seeded second, and third seeds, Korea’s Lim Jonghoon and Shin Yubin.

Nigeria table tennis star Edem Offiong has expressed her excitement at having the chance to represent her fatherland at the Olympics again after she arrived Germany for the close camping ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

Offiong who posted her arrival in Germany in Saarbrücken through her social media handle thanked all those that made her dream to have another chance to feature at the Olympics possible including the Ministry of Sports, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and the Nigeria Table Tennis Federation (NTTF) among others.

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“Germany for the Olympic training camp! I’m thrilled to have this opportunity to represent my country and train with the best. It’s been a long time coming, and I’m grateful to the Ministry of Sports and Development for making this possible. I’ll keep you all posted on my journey,” Offiong disclosed.

“Huge thanks to all who helped make my Olympic dream a reality. Your support means everything. It wasn’t easy, but it was worth it. ” Let’s do this! See you in Paris.”

Offiong will be competing in her fifth Olympics, after she competed in 2004, 2012, 2016 and 2020.

The one-day Pre- Olympics Seminar holding at the National Institute for Sports on 16^th  July will be a convergence of renowned Physical and Health Education lecturers, Olympians and  other sports personalities.

According  to a statement by the organisers, Newstap Communications  and NIS, erudite Professors OF Physical  and Health Education Clement Fasan, Olawale Moronkola, top rated Olympians and former Team Nigerian Captain and Basketball  legend Olumide Oyedeji, Nigeria’s only female Olympics gold medallist Chioma Ajunwa, Sydney  2000 Olympics Gold medallist Eniofiok Udo-Obong will lead the galaxy of stars to the event.

While Professor  Fasan from the Lagos State University,  Ojoo will be speaking on the topic :Olympics Spirit  and global Peace, Professor Moronkola will  dissect The Essentials  of Team Nigeria last minute preparation for podium success in Paris 2024.

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The  trio of Oyedeji,  Ajunwa and Udo-Obong will be sharing their Olympics  experiences, provide insightful information and tips on how Team Nigeria  can excel  at the games.

Also expected at the event is the Secretary  General of the Nigerian Olympics Committee,  Tunde Popoola who will be speaking on Team Nigeria’s  preparations.

Other stakeholders, Olympics- bound special athletes are also  expected to grace the  seminar which is receiving the corporate backing of Monimichelle Group, the nation’s leading stadium facilities construction outfit.