Make the Tokyo Olympics Shame Our Phoenix

THE PUBLIC SPHERE By Chido Nwakanma

Consider this scenario.

“TOKYO — Kenichiro Fumita was crying so hard that he could barely get the words out.

“I wanted to return my gratitude to the concerned people and volunteers who are running the Olympics during this difficult time,” Mr. Fumita, a Greco-Roman wrestler, said between sobs after finishing his final bout at the Games this week.

“I ended up with this shameful result,” he said, bobbing his head abjectly. “I’m truly sorry.”

Mr. Fumita, 25, had just won a silver medal.

In what has become a familiar — and, at times, wrenching — sight during the Tokyo Olympics, many Japanese athletes have wept through post-competition interviews, apologising for any result short of gold. Even some who had won a medal, like Mr. Fumita, lamented that they had let down their team, their supporters, even their country.

After Japan’s judo team earned silver, losing to France, Shoichiro Mukai, 25, also apologised. “I wanted to withstand a little bit more,” he said. “And I’m so sorry to everyone on the team.”

Apologising for being second best in the world would seem to reflect an absurdly unforgiving metric of success. But for these athletes competing in their home country, the emotionally charged displays of repentance — which often follow pointed questions from the Japanese news media — can represent an intricate mix of regret, gratitude, obligation, and humility.

Then consider the obverse. Nigerians are wailing as the Tokyo 2020 Olympics ends on Sunday, August 8, 2021, over a woeful performance by officials and athletes. No one played the national anthem to underline the fact that we did not win one gold medal. Even as Nigerians rejoice with the two ladies who remedied our situation, the challenge is to convert this gross embarrassment into a phoenix.

The legendary bird of the Greeks, the phoenix “symbolises immortality, resurrection and life after death.” Nigerian sports died a metaphoric death on the tracks and venues of Tokyo. There were many causes, but few apologies. There should be consequences.

Our flag and anthem were on sung twice at Atlanta 96. We have been serial failures since then, settling for celebration of mediocre performances. At Tokyo 2020, Blessing Oborududu’s silver seemed like gold, and we made a song and dance of the bronze of Ms Ese Brume.

Many issues crop up post-Tokyo. Shame piled upon sorrow as our athletes crashed from the incompetence of officials, their failure of strength and conviction and even misapprehension of the technical niceties of the game. Both the athlete and the nation blushed as the Moldovan down 2-8 against our Odunayo Adekuroye won on excellent technical execution of a pinfall. Then the double shame of the demonstrations by our athletes, in contravention of the rules, and the kerfuffle with Puma over sportswear.

Then add the shame of a country that had three times more officials than athletes at the Olympics.

Sports and Youth Development Minister, Sunday Dare is in the fray. The popular reaction is to demand Dare’s resignation. On the surface, it is the right call. Except that this is Nigeria under Muhammadu Buhari where the lack of consequences has grown into a mountain.

Critics blame Minister Dare for the toxic atmosphere of the Nigerian camp at the summer Olympics in Tokyo. He foisted two versions of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, then failed to manage with any circumspection or modicum of responsibility the fallouts from that unfortunate situation. Nor did he manage the rumble around official kits for the team.

Dare’s Sports Ministry, in fairness, managed to kit the Olympic team. A Nigerian manufacturer and marketer, AFA Sports of Ugo Udezue, provided the uniform for our team. Dare patriotically insisted on a Nigerian firm kitting our team. Very nice, except to wonder why the order did not provide enough wears for members of the team. Little details that matter.

Puma acted like the script of a scorned suitor by writing to cancel its sponsorship contract. It is just as well because there are too many niggling issues around the Puma sponsorship. With whom did they sign an agreement, the AFN or a body representing the AFN? Who signed Nigeria to a miserly contract of $2.7m over four years? Experts say Jamaica gets more than twice that amount from sponsors every year. Did those who signed have in mind funds for Nigerian athletics development or for their purses, as those in the know allege the money did?

I will not join in a vain effort to call for the minister’s resignation mainly for its sake. I will rather that Sunday Dare should find the compulsion of responsibility to activate a plan for a post-Tokyo revival of Nigeran sports. It should be all-encompassing and involve key stakeholders.

No, we do not need more conferences, symposia, or roundtables. There are enough reports in the files of the Ministry of Sports that detail what Nigeria should do. History helps. They could go as far back as the All-Africa Games we hosted in the seventies, the plans that delivered the results of that era until the slump.

Dare should firstly apologise to Nigerians for the failure of Team Nigeria at the Olympics. In doing so, he should share with us what metrics they set out to gauge achievement ab initio. Secondly, he should use up to December 2021 to give Nigerian sports a Turnaround Roadmap such as the UK did to deliver the results of the London Olympics. It grew from the shame of failure, a national resolve to change the narrative as well as the skill and determination to stick to a plan. Please do not cry for Nigerian sports. Demand positive action for Nigerian sports. Let us go there for outstanding results by the Olympics of the next eight years.