Taekwondo player, Elizabeth Anyanacho and table tennis star, Edem Offiong were the latest Team Nigeria athletes to exit the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Anyanacho in particular suffered a blow in her quest for an Olympic medal in the early hours of Monday against a much matured and experienced double Olympic medallist, Nur Tartar of Turkey.
Tartar showed class and applied experience winning 12 – 7 against the Nigerian debutant who proved that the future belongs to her with a performance that stunned many who could not believe she was fighting in her first Olympics.
The defeat left the 22-year-old Anyanacho gutted and she could not help but to succumb to crying.
Anyanacho knocked out by experienced Turkish taekwondo opponent dailytrust.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from dailytrust.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Nigeria’s first Olympics medal was won at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo where the country’s representative in boxing, Nojeem Maiyegun won a bronze medal in the men’s light middleweight class.
That achievement opened the door for more medals in subsequent editions with Team Nigeria’s best outing being the 1996 Atlanta Olympics where Nigeria won two gold, one silver, and three bronze medals.
It was at the Atlanta Olympics that Nigeria won her first and only individual Olympics gold medal. Policewoman, Chioma Ajunwa leapt 7.2m to win gold in the long jump event. Her record stood for 25 years before it was broken by fellow Nigerian, Ese Brume who jumped 7.17m at a recent event.
Duro Ikhazuagbe
The much-anticipated Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games officially begin today despite some sports like football and softball already recording some mind-blowing results. For Team Nigeria, the journey will start with medal hopefuls, Odunayo Adekuoroye and Quadri Aruna leading out the contingent at the ceremonial match past, bearing the country’s green-white-green flag.
After attending several editions of the Olympiad without any commensurate silverware achievements like Atlanta in 1996, Nigerians have become nonplused. They are no longer sure of what to expect from Team Nigeria but disappointment. After Atlanta ‘96, Nigerian athletes tried to match that feat four years later at Sydney 2000 by winning two silver medals and a couple of bronze medals. Although one of the silver medals got elevated to gold following the disqualification of Team USA over dope use several years later, none of our outings in the subsequent Games produced anything near the two gold medals in the
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