Team Nigeria in coat of many colours

Lack of kits force athletes to wear personal jerseys
They say they are determined to win laurels for the country. Everyday they step out of their hostels at the Games Village to train and get ready for their events, which come thick and fast. But they are a different breed from their colleagues from other countries, who have all they need to succeed in these games.

Nigerian athletes are like abandoned gladiators, who only receive accolades when they excel. Yet, they cannot complain else they will be termed undisciplined and victimised by their officials, some of who are lodged in five star hotels way removed from the Games Village.

A track and field athlete, who pleaded anonymity, told The Guardian that this is the worst she has ever attended in terms of preparation and organisation.

She said they were promised all the kits they needed for the Olympics once Team Nigeria got together here in Brazil, lamenting, however, that since they arrived in Rio ‘nothing has been given to anybody.’

According to the athlete, “We just got a Mizuna shirt each donated to the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) by a Japanese firm through their relationship with the committee. “We are forced to train with our own personal shoes and track wears while our colleagues from other countries are decked in their national colours.

“The T-shirt from the NOC is inadequate and you dare not wash it else you will appear in a colour other than Nigeria’s as stipulated by the rules here.

“What it means is that some of us wear their club’s kits to training and the officials cannot question us because they know there is no other alternative. We are waiting for the ministry officials, who are staying in hotels outside the Games Village, to come and resolve some of these issues since they have hijacked Team Nigeria from the NOC,” she said.

The Guardian learnt that Nigeria Table Tennis (NTTF) President, Enitan Oshodi, had to go to town to buy kits for the NTTF players in these Games.

It was also gathered that the local organisers of the competition have chosen to ignore Team Nigeria because they don’t deal with any other body than the NOC. This means that some of the things Nigeria is supposed to get from the International Olympic Committee (IOC) are lying waste in the stores because, according to one official, the NOC is afraid to go and collect them lest it be accused of insubordination.