75 athletes qualify for Games
The Federal Ministry of Sports Development will open Team Nigeria’s training camp on July 1 in Germany ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which begins on July 26 and ends on August 11. A top official of the ministry told The Guardian that about 75 Nigerian athletes have already qualified for the Games, which the ministry believes would be the country’s best outing since the 1996 edition in Atlanta, United States. The ministry staff, who pleaded anonymity, said that more Nigerian athletes are expected to qualify for the Games from the various championships coming up across the continent. “We will collate the list of qualified athletes from the various federations and ferry them to the pre-Games camp in Germany for intensive training ahead of the Olympics.
“The minister, Senator John Own Enoh, is in constant contact with the federations as they plan the country’s movement and strategy for Paris 2024, which is Mr President, Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s first since he assumed office last year,” the source said. At the weekend in Lagos, Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) President, Habu Gumel, told The Guardian that the country’s track and field athletes will participate in the African Senior Championships in Douala this month, just as the judokas would feature in a continental championship a few weeks before the Games. “We expect that more Nigerian athletes will qualify from the variuos chanpionships to give the counry more chances of exceling in Paris. “It is when everything is done that the Ministry of Sports will hand over the contingent to the NOC, which is the custodian of the country’s teams to the Olympics,” Gumel said.
