The All Africa Games is organised by the African Union to foster unity in Africa through sports as well as present an avenue for indigenous athletes to qualify for the Olympic Games. It has been successfully held 13 times since 1965 in Brazzaville, Congo, with the most recent concluding on March 23.
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Sports contested include arm wrestling, athletics, badminton, cycling, hockey swimming, table tennis, tennis, triathlon, and wrestling. Team Nigeria, having graced the event with 358 athletes to compete in 25 sports, finished in second place overall with 47 Gold, 33 silver, and 40 bronze behind Egypt (101 Gold, 46 Silver, and 42 bronze), and ahead of South Africa (32 Gold, 32 Silver, and 42 bronze).
The host nation finished 6th with 19 Gold, 29 Silver, and 20 Bronze. Our biggest stars rose to the occasion, Team Nigeria showed superiority in the highly anticipated athletics event, winning 11 gold, 6 silver and 5 bronze.
The 100m hurdles female world record holder, Oluwatobiloba Amusan won two gold medals (100m hurdles female and 4x 100 metres women). Several other weightlifters won three gold medals each, such as Umoafia Edidong for men 59kg, Eze Joy for women 71kg, Ayodele Ruth for 64kg, Lawal Rafiatu for women 59kg, and Olarinoye Adijat for women 55kg.
The national boxing team also dominated their event by finishing top with eight gold and two silver medals, twice as many gold medals as second (Algeria) and third place (Ghana). The table tennis team led by Africa’s highest-rated player, Aruna Quadri finished with three silver and three bronze medals. The arm wrestling team finished third, behind first place Egypt and second place Ghana with four gold medals, two silver medals, and seven bronze medals.
The Badminton team finished in second place, behind Algeria and ahead of Uganda, with one gold by the current African champion Anuoluwapo Opeyori, two silver medals and three bronze medals. The Women’s Beach volleyball team overcame their Rwandan counterpart 2-0 for a bronze medal and Nigeria’s sole medal in the sport.
The Chess event concluded similarly with two bronze medals, as Peace Samson, the current women’s chess champion, won third place in the women’s blitz individual. The duo of Kighigha Bomo, the current national champion, and Peace Samson won third place in the mixed team blitz event. The inaugural feature of cricket as a medal event in the competition saw a Nigerian team finish with a lone bronze medal in the women’s event.
While in cycling, Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye won a silver medal in the women’s individual time trial (Elite) and a bronze medal in the women’s road race. The handball men’s team finished in third place having trashed Benin 38-20.
The hockey women’s team finished with a silver medal having lost 4-3 to Ghana while the men’s team won bronze after a 2-1 against Kenya. Franca Audu won Nigeria’s lone medal in Judo after a third place finish in the women’s Under 52kg division.
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The Taekwondo team finished with one gold medal by Elizabeth Anyanacho in the 67 kg division, one silver and four bronze medals. The Lawn tennis women’s team finished with silver in the women’s team event and bronze in the women’s doubles event.
Although expectations were high for the achievement of several medals in swimming, only the men’s 4x 100m Freestyle Relay yielded a podium finish, with a scintillating third-place finish for a bronze medal. The Nigerian female football team secured a silver medal after a 2-1 defeat to Ghana.
While the Flying Eagles couldn’t advance past the group stage following a 3-2 trouncing by Senegal. The wrestling team came second in the ranking table with six gold all by female athletes who won all available categories, three silver and two bronze medals behind Egypt and ahead of Algeria.
Chinecherem Prosper won the gold medal in the men’s javelin with his first throw of 82.80m, defeating the legendary Julius Yego of Kenya, the African record holder. The African shotput champion, Chukwuebuka Enekwachi won his event with a throw of 21.06m.
The women’s discus throw had a Nigerian 1-2 -4 place by Amaechi Obiageri, Onyekwere Chioma, the current Commonwealth champion, and Anumba Ashley Ifeoma with throws of 58.93m, 58.03m and 54.88m respectively. Francs-Peterson Kemi completed the gruelling women’s Heptathlon with 5268 points, earning her a silver medal.
The women’s long jump had a Nigerian 1-3-4 placing. Ese Brume, Olympic bronze medallist and African champion, Ochonogor Pristina and Usoro Ruth with jumps of 6.92m, 6.61m and 6.62m respectively. Ruth Usoro won the gold medal in the women’s triple jump event with a mark of 13.80m and Olatoye Oyesade won silver in the women’s shot put with a throw of 16.60m.
The athletes were rewarded in camp at the culmination of the games by the sports minister, Senator John Owan Enoh with 3,000 dollars for gold, 2,000 dollars for silver and 1,000 dollars for bronze for individual events and 5,000 dollars for gold, 3,000 dollars for silver and 1,500 dollars for bronze for doubles events while for events of six athletes, 6,000 dollars for gold, 4,000 dollars for silver and 3,000 dollars for bronze. The remarkable lesson from Ghana is that more efforts are needed to stand tall in the Olympic Games.
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