Athletics

By Tony NEZIANYA

The Nigeria Olympic Committee held its Executive Board Meeting in Abuja on May 24, 2023, at the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (ANOCA) in Abuja and reached important decisions to pave a better way forward for the board. A Communique signed by Tony Nezianya, the Public Relations Officer of the NOC notes that the committee was painstaking in reaching hard decisions on crucial matters. The committee jointly agreed with the Ministry of Youth and Sports Development that Team Nigeria will participate in various international sporting events, including the African Beach Games, the Commonwealth Youth Games in Trinidad & Tobago, and the ANOC World Beach Games in Bali, Indonesia. It is the belief of the Committee that these foregoing Games would help the federations in their preparations ahead of two important Games next year – the African Games to be staged by Ghana in March 2024 and the 2024 Paris Olympic Games being hosted by France. With these decisions, it is evident that the NOC has loaded international programmes ahead of the Paris Games. In between, there are many Olympic qualifying Championships to be attended by National Sports Federations for them to make the stiff qualifying standards for the Paris Games. The president, then, unveiled two major properties -- the newly re-developed infrastructures - the Amuwo Odofin Olympic Village where some sporting facilities - a football pitch, Tennis, Volleyball and Basketball courts, an Indoor hall for multi-purpose uses, where sports and Cultural Centre can be held under one roof. The facility also has an Athletics running tracks. The President, then, announced to Members that five hectares of land have been allocated to the NOC by the Federal Capital Authority; the NOC has taken possession of all the relevant documents. ``The land will house the Committee’s permanent Secretariat and some sporting infrastructure as well as other complementing facilities. It will be fenced to protect the property. ‘’In order not to let the land lie fallow for a long time, the Committee has taken an opportunity offered by the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa to apply for a grant to build some essential facilities like the Secretariat,’’ Gumel said. The meeting later received the outgoing Minister of Youth and Sports, Mr Sunday Dare, who used the opportunity provided by the gathering of the elite sports administrators to have a session with the Executive Board. He praised the committee for enduring work it had been doing to provide funding support --training grants and scholarships from the Olympic Solidarity and ANOCA. Dare, engaged all with some of his achievements: ``I have been able to secure all approvals, making sports an industry. ``This means that companies that support will get tax exemptions. This is one crucial accomplishment that can turn around the fortunes of sports. ``We have also obtained assurance that the Athletes would henceforth be fairly rewarded as they will be better prepared to win medals in major Games,’’ he said. The former minister, then, praised the NOC for the numerous courses it usually secured from the Olympic Solidarity through the Olympic Committee (IOC) and ANOCA in improving the skills of coaches and sports administrators. Dare, then, pleaded that these be sustained. Engr. Gumel on behalf of the Committee commended the minister over the numerous achievements including victories during the Commonwealth Games and the World Athletics Championship and the raising funding to support the completion of the ANOCA Secretariat. That World Championship provided an avenue for Tobin Amunsan and her colleagues to post exceptional performances. The IOC member, however, reminded the National Federations that the last time that Team Nigeria won major medals – two gold medals from the Olympic Games was at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics. Nigeria’s Dream Team led by Nwankwo Kanu won the soccer Olympic Gold. Recall that Policewoman, Chioma Ajunwa won the women’s Long Jump in a distance of 6.12 metres in her first jump at the Games. She did not improve in subsequent jumps as the first was enough to fetch her the ultimate medal. ‘’We must produce exceptional athletes who should turn around the fortunes of the country by winning Gold medals at the Paris Games in 2024,’’ emphasised Gumel. In all, it was a jolly good meeting devoid of rancour.