Dichotomy between foreign, home-based athletes unhealthy, Ojeli tells govt
• Still in shock over 4x400m relay team’s disqualification
A member of Team Nigeria to the Paris 2024 Olympics, Emmanuel Ojeli, has described some of the controversies that dogged the country’s participation at the Games as avoidable.
Ojeli, a 400m runner, who made his second Olympics appearance in Paris, said, yesterday, in Lagos that the Federal Government’s decision to rate foreign-based athletes higher than their home-based counterparts, especially in terms of grants and allowances was counterproductive.
Speaking during the unveiling of 20 young athletes from MTN/MOC Season 1/11 into the MOC Academy in Lagos, yesterday, Ojeli said: “They should stop this practice of paying foreign-based athletes higher than us (home-based) because it is killing our sport,” he said.
“Ordinarily, once an athlete makes the national team to any competition, be it the Olympics or not, everyone should be treated equally. We all passed through a lot while struggling to qualify for the Olympics. As a matter of fact, we (home-based stars) suffered more to qualify for the Olympics because there were not many competitions for us to attend compared to what foreign-based athletes had. We go through rough routes at home and pay bills the same way the foreign-based do. So, why pay them higher than us at competition venues?
“At the last African Games in Accra, Ghana, some home-based athletes did more work for Nigeria than the foreign-based stars. Yet, as we speak, the home-based athletes did not receive anything in the form of grants. What I got was a camp allowance, while the foreign-based ones were paid grants.
“A similar thing happened at the Paris Olympics. The foreign-based were paid grants that were almost four times higher than what we got. It is discouraging.
“That is why you don’t see many home-based athletes competing in Nigeria anymore. Everybody wants to travel abroad so that they can get equal treatment as foreign-based. It shouldn’t be so. But I commend the sports minister for even paying the home-based athletes’ grants in Paris. It was the first time,” he stated.
Although Ojeli did not disclose the disparity in what was paid to the foreign-based athletes and the home-based stars, an official who attended the Paris Olympics had earlier told The Guardian that one of the problems that Team Nigeria encountered at the Games was the payment of ‘training grants’ to the athletes in the middle of the Games.
“Things were going on smoothly in the camp until the sports minister decided to pay the athletes’ training grants,” the official said.
“The minister paid each foreign-based athlete the sum of $6,000, while the home-based stars got $1,500 each. However the home-based athletes were furious following the disparity. To them, all athletes that made Team Nigeria’s contingent to the Paris Olympics deserved equal treatment from the Federal Government because they passed through various stages to qualify for the Olympics.”
Ojeli also revealed that Nigeria’s 4x400m relay team’s disqualification after picking a ticket to the final was heartbreaking.
“We broke down in tears when the news of the disqualification hit our camp. It was heartbreaking to us because we were already looking forward to competing in the final,” he stated.
Related
Sport
Get the latest news delivered straight to your inbox every day of the week. Stay informed with the Guardian’s leading coverage of Nigerian and world news, business, technology and sports.
0 Comments
We will review and take appropriate action.