Olympics pain for Nigeria as they miss medals but athletes of the country’s origin win for other nations

Nigeria witnessed a nightmare Olympics after getting out of the Paris 2024 Games without a medal.

Team Nigeria had a delegation of 88 athletes in Paris but were not lucky to get on the podium despite having some of the finest in their squad.

What was more painful for fans in the country was that a number of athletes of Nigerian descent won medals for other nations.

Faith Kipyegon has opened up on the mindset she adopted running the women's 1500m final after the traumatic 5000m race at the Paris Olympics.

The most painful perhaps was that of hammer thrower Annette Echikunwoke who won silver in the hammer throw for the United States, having initially signed up to represent the West African country before an administrative error put paid to her desires.

Born in Ohio, Echikunwoke has dual American-Nigerian citizenship and was set to represent the country of her parents at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics after breaking the African record in qualification in her first trip to Nigeria.

However, she was deemed ineligible, alongside nine other Nigerian athletes, over a failure to comply with three out-of-competition drug testing requirements after the Athletics Federation of Nigeria failed to comply with the rules during a 10-month period, leaving her crushed.

Botswana President Mokgweetsi Masisi has given residents in the country a second afternoon off in less than a week to celebrate the gold and silver medal win at Paris Olympics.

After the disappointment, she decided to represent the US instead and made history by becoming the first American to win an Olympics medal in the hammer throw.

Another athlete of Nigeria descent who won a medal in Paris is Yemisi Ogunleye who claimed Germany’s first ever gold in shot put while Salwa Eid Naser, originally born as Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu in Nigeria, claimed a silver in the 400m for Bahrain.

Newly-signed Bayern Munich winger Michael Oliseh, born to a Nigerian father, was part of the French team that won silver in men’s football while Samu Omorodion was on the opposite side in the Spain team that beat the hosts for gold in the final.

Noah Lyles' sweetheart Junelle Bromfield endured a Paris 2024 Olympics to forget after a disastrous outing.

Meanwhile, Barthelemy Chinenyeze was part of the French side that won gold in the men’s volleyball as Femi Bam Adebayo won gold in the men’s basketball for Team USA after teaming up with LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant and Co.

Great Britain’s 4x400m relay bronze-winning quartet had Victoria Ohuruogu, whose parents are Nigerian, adding a further layer of disappointment to Africa’s most populous nation.