Freestyle wrestler, Boltic Sinivie (L) kisses the bronze medal he won at the World Freestyle Wrestling Championships in Istanbul, Turkey
As the zero hour approaches swiftly for Friday’s opening ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics, the baton for the flag bearer for Team Contingent has changed hands. The new flag bearer is 96kg freestyle wrestler, Boltic Sinivie.
Usman Maryam of Weightlifting (+75kg) was earlier named to be the flag bearer before Team Nigeria made the changes after a meeting.
Deputy Chef de Mission, Al-Hassan Yakmut, informed that the change became necessary since Maryam the coach of Maryam would not want her to be stressed at the opening ceremony.
“The opening ceremony is going to stretch into the morning of Saturday and Maryam will be fighting soon after the ceremony. It is for strategic reasons. We don’t want to wear her out in the ceremonies. We’ve have placed our athletes at the heart of the Games,” Yakmut said.
He however said that the new flag bearer, Boltic has all the qualities to carry Nigeria’s flag at the epoch opening ceremony.
“Boltic is not new to events like this. He has been around and has won several medals for Nigeria at international events,” Yakmut said.
Meanwhile, Beijing Olympics bronze medallist, Chika Chukwumerije has described as an honour bestowed on him as the Team Captain of Team of Nigeria.
The taekwondoist, no doubt, is a symbol of humility, hard work, discipline and a role model.
“This is a huge honour placed on my shoulder by my country. It is not a title or a CV. It is massive honour done to me to be the captain of a great team like Team Nigeria. I am most humbled by this honour and respect,” Chukwumerije popularly called Yaya by his friends stated.
The athlete had come to the secretariat of Team Nigeria alongside his team mate, Isa Mohammed and coach Keum Sihwan when volunteers who recognized him swarmed on him to take autographs and pictures. He obliged despite a 29-hour energy-sapping journey from Istanbul to London.
One of the Volunteers quipped: “I’m in love with this guy. He is organized, humbled and respectful.”