Beijing Olympics: Team Nigeria athletes protest poor preparation

25.07.2008

Obafemi MartinsNIGERIA'S poor run towards the Beijing 2008 Olympics took a worse dimension on Thursday when Team Nigeria athletes staged a protest to the National Sports Commission (NSC) in Abuja.

The athletes stormed the commission in their large numbers to register their displeasure over what they regarded as the authorities' unseriousness towards their preparations for the event which will get underway in few days time.

They argued that the NSC has failed in its duties to arrange training tours which would have put them in good shape for the Olympics.

The protesting athletes expressed dismay with the commission, stressing that while other countries are already rounding off their preparations for the Olympics, they were yet to even embark on any serious one.

"When the Olympics begins, they would be expecting us to perform well by winning medals, whereas other athletes we are going to compete with have been preparing for long. How then do they want us to live up to their expectations?" asked one of the athletes.

Besides, the athletes also registered their displeasure over NSC's decision in picking only two medical doctors to accompany them to Beijing, describing it as awful.

Addressing the athletes, NSC Director-General, Dr Amos Adamu, said the athletes were right with the action but argued that they should have picked some representatives to stage the protest instead of all of them taking part in it.

He, however, assured them of the commission's readiness to address the issue without further delay, just as he disclosed that the athletes would soon move to Lagos from where they would fly out to Korea enroute Beijing for the Olympics.