Nigeria Can win Five Gold Medals at 2016 Olympics -Abdullahi

Sports Minister, Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi yesterday said Nigeria has the potentials that if properly trained, Team Nigeria be capable of winning five held medals at the 2016 Olympic Games to be held in Rio de Jenairo, Brazil.

The minister, who disclosed this in a chat with sports reporters in Abuja, revealed that the Commission has already started working towards achieving the five gold medals target at the Rio games as directed by President Goodluck Jonathan.

“Mr. President said if we start working today, we can win five gold medals in Brazil; so we believe that if we start working today, we can win five gold medals at the Rio de Jenairo Olympic Games in 2016.

“But we must show that it is going to be achievable as a result of the work we have done, not as a result of luck from one corner” he said.

He also said the failure of Team Nigeria to win medals at the just concluded London 2012 Olympic Games is a blessing in disguise to the nation’s sports sector, as it has provided an opportunity of finding ways of coming out stronger in future editions.

The minister noted that any time Team Nigeria returns from the Olympic Games with a medal, Nigerians celebrate and forget to look for ways of doing better in subsequent editions.

“I keep saying that even though everybody has been talking about failure in London, for me I think it is great opportunity for us to move forward. If we had come back with one or two medals in London, we would still be celebrating by now, thinking that all is well.

“Our best Olympic performance was Atlanta 96, we came back and rolled out the drums and continued to celebrate, and nobody asked how we were able to achieve what we achieved in Atalanta; and today we have found ourselves at this level because subsequent at Olympics we go and come back with one or two medals, we celebrate and go to sleep.

“But now God has told us that we cannot continue to depend on luck, and that is why I see this as a big opportunity for us to address the issue”, he stated.

He also blamed his predecessors for not doing enough to achieve the four gold medals target set for Team Nigeria at London 2012 Olympic Games by Vision 20, 2020 report.

“If you look at vision 2020, a document that I have been studying in the last couple of days, actually set four medals target for Team Nigeria at the London 2012 Olympic Games, so the issue is that since that report was submitted in 2009 what did we do realistically towards achieving the target?”, he concluded