Oyo-born Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Sunday Dare, says Nigerians should be proud of the country for ranking 74th in the medals table at the just-concluded Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
The minister, who described Nigeria’s athletes as ‘inspiring’, claimed that finishing 74th on the medals table is the country’s best performance in Olympics in 13 years.
The PUNCH reports that in Sydney 2004, Nigeria finished 68th with two bronze medals among 201 countries.
However, among 205 countries, the country finished 74th with one bronze and one silver medal.
The minister, in a press statement titled, ‘On Nigeria’s participation at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics’, the minister said, “Not wanting to add to the public distraction, I have deliberately waited until the end of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games before making any observations regarding the various reports on Nigeria’s participation in the quadrennial games… Nigeria succeeded with two (2) medals – a silver in wrestling won by Blessing Oborodudu and a bronze in long jump won by Ese Brume. Their performances were inspiring for they affirmed we can and should compete at the highest levels across the full range of sports events. Yes, we had wished and worked for more medals. But we must also put things in perspective. The medal outcome at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics stands as Nigeria’s best result in the last 13 years.”
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