The Federal Government of Nigeria has announced the cash rewards for Team Nigeria ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh revealed the cash rewards on Thursday, July 18 during a media parley in Abuja.
According to Enoh, gold medal winners will get a $5, 000, silver medalists will be rewarded with $3,000 and $2,000 will be given to bronze medalists, stating that they are determined to encourage Nigerian Athletes
He said his aspiration is for Team Nigeria to surpass the country’s best Olympic performance, achieved at the Atalanta 1996 Olympic Games where the Team won two gold, one silver and three bronze medals.
“Just like it was with the African Games in Accra, Ghana, I will spell out from A-Z, the entitlements for our athletes. My aspiration is for the nation to surpass our previous record from our best Olympic Games performance in 1996.
“We’ve been working on this goal through our preparations, arrangements, and performance team working with athletes in Germany. I am getting reports on the progress every day.”
Team Nigeria will be making her 18th appearance at the Olympics and will be represented by 87 athletes.
At the Tokyo Olympics, Team Nigeria won one silver and one bronze thanks to Blessing Oborodudu in wrestling and Ese Brume in the long jump 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 Montreal Summer Olympics.
Nigerian athletes have won a total of 27 medals, mostly in athletics and boxing. Chioma Ajunwa-Opara became the first-ever Nigerian to win a gold medal at the Olympics after winning the long jump event with a leap of 7.12 metres at the Atalanta 1996 Olympics.
Also at the 1996 games, the U-23 Eagles, known as the Dream Team, won gold in the football event, beating the likes of Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
In 2008, following the International Olympic Committee’s decision to strip the American 4 × 400 metre relay team of their medals after Antonio Pettigrew confessed to using performance-enhancing drugs, Nigerian was awarded the gold medal.
Nigeria also won a medal in the heavyweight division of taekwondo at the 1992 Summer Olympics; as this was only a demonstration sport, Emmanuel Oghenejobo’s silver did not count as an official win.
