While the Olympic Games officially starts on Friday, July 26, Nigeria’s quest for medals in Paris gets underway a day before when the women’s national football team, the Super Falcons, take on their Brazil counterparts in the women’s football event.
Nigeria first participated in the Olympic Games in 1952, and has sent athletes to compete in every Summer Olympic Games since then, except for the boycotted 1976 Summer Olympics.
Team Nigeria’s also been to the winter Olympic Games, first qualifying in 2018 in Pyeongchang, South Korea through three bobsleigh and one skeleton athletes. The country also took part in the 2022 Winter Games in Beijing, China.
Medal History
Since 1952, Nigeria’s won a total of 27 medals at the Olympic Games comprising 3 gold, 11 silver and 13 bronze medals.
Nojim Maiyegun created history by winning Team Nigeria’s first Olympic medal with a bronze in the light middleweight class of the boxing event in the 1964 Games held in Tokyo.
Another boxer, Peter Konyegwachie, won Team Nigeria’s first silver medal in the men’s featherweight class at the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
But it wasn’t until the Atlanta 1996 Games that Team Nigeria claimed gold medal, first through Chioma Ajunwa in the women’s long jump event, followed by the Dream Team that beat Argentina in a dramatic final to win the men’s football event days later.
Atlanta 1996 has also remained Team Nigeria’s most successful at the Olympics so far thanks to a haul of six medals comprising two gold, one silver and three bronze. The last time Team Nigeria won gold was in the subsequent Games of Sydney 2000 through the men’s 4x400m relay team.
The 1976 Olympics Boycott
Team Nigeria led 26 other countries, mostly African ones, to a boycott of the Montreal Olympics in protest of New Zealand backing the Apartheid regime in South Africa at the time.
The boycott stemmed from an unresolved diplomatic row over New Zealand rugby team’s tour of the then Apartheid South Africa and the International Olympic Committee refusing to impose a ban on New Zealand.
New Zealand’s rugby team toured South Africa in defiance of the United Nations’ resolution of a total sporting embargo against the racist Apartheid regime in the African country.
Events Team Nigeria Will Compete in Paris 2024
Team Nigeria will be compete in 12 sports at the Paris 2024 Olympics. These sports are Athletics (track and field), Badminton, Women’s Basketball, Boxing, Canoeing, Cycling, Women’s Football, Table Tennis, Taekwondo, Weightlifting, and Wrestling.
The track and field events that will see Team Nigeria participate include the individual and relay sprints, men’s shot put, men’s javelin, women’s high jump, women’s long jump, women’s discus throw, and women’s hammer throw.
You can check out odds from various events in Paris on the following platforms:
2024 Olympic Games on Betano
2024 Olympic Games on Hallabet
2024 Olympic Games on Bet9ja
2024 Olympic Games on Sportybet