Femi Solaja
Following the dashed hope of Chukwuebuka Enekwechi to win anything in the shot-put final event in the early hours of yesterday and the failure of the country’s women to reach the final of 4 x 100m relay, Team Nigeria occupies the 71st position on the medals table.
The Tokyo Olympic Games delayed for one year due to the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020 is billed to end on Sunday.
Nigeria’s standing is seven steps better than the final position attained five years ago at Rio Olympic Games in Brazil where Nigeria won a solitary bronze medal from the men’s football event.
The silver and bronze medals won by Blessing Oborududu and Ese Brume in wrestling and long jump events respectively placed Nigeria in that position.
The chance of Nigeria to improve on her ranking was blown on Wednesday as medal hopeful, Odunayo Adekuoroye lost by a pin fall in the women’s freestyle wrestling 57kg category.
She was leading Anastasia Nichita of Moldova 8-0 with just minutes away from picking the remaining two points when the unexpected happened. Nichita defeated Adekuoroye by a pin.
In the men’s shot put, the field was too strong for Chukwuebuka Enekwechi as he finished last in the final. His best throw was 19.74m but he fouled in his opening throw, then threw 18.87m on his second attempt and his final and best throw did not shake the table in the pool of best throws.
With multiple medals still to be won going into final day of competition, Nigeria may still drop further in the rankings.
The Tokyo Games tagged ‘United by Passion’ played host to 205 countries from various continents. The African continent has about 54 countries participating in various events.
On the average, the athletes from the African continent have not performed up to expectations with only three African countries having won one gold medal each.
