Olympic history of Nigeria

NGR

3	10	12

Nigeria , whose NOK , the Nigeria Olympic Committee , was founded in 1951 andrecognizedby the IOC in the same year, has been participating in the Summer Olympic Games since 1952. In 1976 they joined the African boycott of the Montreal Games. In 2018, Nigerian athletes took part in the Winter Olympics for the first time.

Overview

1952 to 1976

Nigeria first stepped into the Olympic limelight at the 1952 Helsinki Games . The team consisted of nine athletes. The first Nigerian Olympian was the 100-meter runners Titus Erinle, Karim Olowu and Edward Ajado and the high jumpers Josiah Majekodunmi , Nafiu Osagie and Boniface Guobadia, all of whom competed on July 20, 1952.

Also in Melbourne in 1956 only track and field athletes were sent. Karim Olowu delivered the best result with a fifth place in the high jump. In 1960 in Rome Nigerian boxers took part for the first time. The light middleweight boxer Nojim Maiyegun managed to win the first medal for Nigeria in 1964 in Tokyo with his bronze medal. There was a top placement again in the long jump. Wariboko West jumped to fourth place. Nigerian women competed for the first time in Tokyo. The first female Olympic athletes in Nigeria were 100-meter runner Clarice Ahanotu and high jumper Amelia Okoli on October 15, 1964.

Except for two quarter-finals in boxing by Gabriel Ogun in the light flyweight division and Fatai Ayinla in the light heavyweight division, the 1968 Mexico City games were unsuccessful from a Nigerian point of view. In Mexico City, a Nigerian soccer team took part in the Olympic tournament for the first time.

1972 in Munich , a boxer made Nigeria's second medal win. Isaac Ikhouria won bronze in the light heavyweight division. In 1976 , Nigeria followed the call to boycott African countries and stayed away from the Montreal Games.

1980 to 1996

In Moscow 1980 Nigerian weightlifters and wrestlers took part for the first time. This time the Nigerian team was unsuccessful. Two medals were won in Los Angeles in 1984 . The men's 400 meter relay, with Sunday Uti , Moses Ugbisie , Rotimi Peters and Innocent Egbunike , won the bronze medal. Boxer Peter Konyegwachie won silver in featherweight.

There were no medals in Seoul in 1988 . Innocent Egbunike was able to qualify for the final over 400 meters and came in fifth. The 400 meter relay reached seventh place in the final. Nigerian judoka, tennis and table tennis players celebrated Olympic premieres. Swimming and handball were added in 1992 in Barcelona . Four medals were won in Barcelona. Both 100 meter relays came on the podium. The men's relay with Oluyemi Kayode , Chidi Imoh , Olapade Adeniken , Davidson Ezinwa and Osmond Ezinwa (only used in the run-up) won silver. The women's relay with Beatrice Utondu , Faith Idehen , Christy Opara-Thompson and Mary Onyali-Omagbemi won bronze and thus the first medal for Nigerian women. Boxers David Izonritei in the heavyweight division and Richard Igbeneghu in the super heavyweight division won two other silver medals .

In 1996 in Atlanta there were several Olympic premieres for Nigeria. Badminton players from Nigeria competed here for the first time. On August 1, 1996 Chioma Ajunwa achieved the first Nigerian Olympic victory , at the same time the first medal win by a Nigerian individual athlete. The Nigerian men's soccer selection contributed another gold medal. The women's 400 meter relay with Olabisi Afolabi , Fatima Yusuf , Charity Opara and Falilat Ogunkoya won silver. Ogunkoya also won bronze over 400 meters, Mary Onyali over 200 meters. Another bronze medal went to the super heavyweight boxer Duncan Dokiwari . With six medals, including two Olympic victories, the Atlanta Games were the most successful Olympic Games for Nigeria to date.

2000 until today

In 2000 in Sydney , the men's 400-meter relay with Clement Chukwu , Jude Monye , Sunday Bada and Enefiok Udo-Obong as well as Nduka Awazie and Fidelis Gadzama, who were used in the first round, celebrated their third Nigerian Olympic victory. The originally victorious US season was disqualified for a doping offense by Antonio Pettigrew . The women's relay took fourth place and missed a medal by 0.34 seconds. Glory Alozie contributed a silver medal in the 100 meter hurdles. Weightlifter Ruth Ogbeifo won another silver medal in the heavyweight division.

In Athens 2004 basketball players and taekwondoin from Nigeria competed for the first time. The men's athletics relays won two bronze medals. The 100-meter relay was formed by Olusoji Fasuba , Uchenna Emedolu , Aaron Egbele and Daji Aliu , the 400-meter relay by James Godday , Musa Audu , Saul Weigopwa and Enefiok Udo-Obong .

The Nigerian U-23 men's national soccer team won the silver medal in Beijing in 2008 after a 1-0 defeat in the final against Argentina. Blessing Okagbare won bronze in the long jump . The women's 100-meter relay with Ene Franca Idoko , Gloria Kemasuode , Halimat Ismaila and Oludamola Osayomi as well as Agnes Osazuwa , who was used in the preliminary round , also reached 3rd place. The Russian relay that won the final was in 2016 because of doping of the runner Julia Schermoschanskaya was stripped of her gold medal, the Belgian relay moved up to first and the Nigerian relay to second place. Blessing Okagbare took bronze in the long jump. The silver medalist Tatiana Lebedewa from Russia was subsequently disqualified for doping in 2017, Okagbare moved up to second place. The Taekwondoin Chika Chukwumerije in the heavyweight division and the weightlifter Mariam Usman , also in the heavyweight division , won other bronze medals . Usman originally finished fifth in her competition. But both the second-placed Olha Korobka from Ukraine and the third-placed Marija Grabowezkaja from Kazakhstan were convicted and disqualified in post-doping tests in 2016. Thus Usman moved up to the bronze place.

Nigeria remained without a medal at the 2012 London Games , in which a Nigerian canoeist took part for the first time. The women's 100-meter relay missed a medal with fourth place by 0.6 seconds. Nigerian rowers first appeared in Rio de Janeiro in 2016 . The men's U-23 national football team won a bronze medal. After a 2-0 defeat in the semi-finals against Germany, Honduras could be defeated 3-2 (after a 3-0 lead) in the game for the bronze medal. The table tennis player Segun Toriola took part in the Olympic Games for the seventh time. In Barcelona he started at the age of 17. In Rio de Janeiro, at the age of 41, he was Nigeria's oldest participant in the Olympic Games.

In 2018 in Pyeongchang , Nigeria was represented at the Winter Games for the first time. The first winter team consisted only of women who competed in bobsleigh and skeleton. The skeleton skier Simidele Adeagbo was Nigeria's first female athlete at the Winter Olympics on February 16, 2018.

IOC member

Habu Gumel , President of the Nigerian NOC, was elected an IOC member in 2009.

Overview of the participants

Summer games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports															Medals
	total	m	w																				total	rank
1896-1948	not participated
1952	9	9	0		9
1956	10	10	0		10
1960	12	12	0		8th	4th
1964	18th	26th	2		14th	4th																1	1	35
1968	36	31	5		15th	5	16
1972	25th	20th	5	Benedict Majekodunmi	19th	6th																1	1	43
1976	not participated
1980	44	38	6th		16	8th	17th	2	1
1984	32	30th	2	Yusuf Alli	10	3		6th	3												1	1	2	30th
1988	69	61	8th	Yusuf Alli	23	7th	17th	4th	6th	3	6th	3
1992	55	32	23	Innocent Egbunike	14th	9		1	5	2	6th		2	16							3	1	4th	38
1996	65	49	16	Mary Onyali	32	4th	16	1	4th	1	4th	1			2					2	1	3	6th	32
2000	83	44	39	Sunday Bada	29	5	32	5	2	2	7th		2							1	2		3	41
2004	70	24	46	Mary Onyali	14th	7th	16	2	1	2	8th		2			12	3					2	2	68
2008	74	37	37	Bose kaffo	22nd	4th	31	3	2	1	6th		2		1		2				3	2	5	61
2012	49	30th	19th	Sinivie Boltic	21st	2		2	4th		4th			12			2	1
2016	77	51	26th	Olufunke Oshonaike	27	1	18th	1	7th		5		2			12		1	1			1	1	78
total																				3	10	12	25th	65

Winter games

year	Athletes			Flag bearer	sports		Medals
	total	m	w							total	rank
1924-2014	not participated
2018	3	0	3	Ngozi Onwumere	2	1
total							0	0	0	0	-

List of medal winners

Gold medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Chioma Ajunwa	1996 Atlanta	athletics	Long jump
U-23 national soccer team	1996 Atlanta	Soccer	Men's tournament
Nduka Awazie Fidelis Gadzama Clement Chukwu Jude Monye Sunday Bada Enefiok Udo-Obong	2000 Sydney	athletics	4 x 400 meter relay

Silver medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Peter Konyegwachie	1984 Los Angeles	Boxing	Featherweight
Olapade Adenics Davidson Ezinwa Chidi Imoh Oluyemi Kayode Osmond Ezinwa	1992 Barcelona	athletics	4 x 100 meter relay
Richard Igbineghu	1992 Barcelona	Boxing	Super heavyweight
David Izonritei	1992 Barcelona	Boxing	Heavyweight
Olabisi Afolabi Fatima Yusuf Charity Opara Falilat Ogunkoya	1996 Atlanta	athletics	4 x 400 meter relay
Glory alozie	2000 Sydney	athletics	100 meter hurdles
Ruth Ogbeifo	2000 Sydney	Weightlifting	Heavyweight
U-23 national soccer team	2008 Beijing	Soccer	Men's tournament
Ene Franca Idoko Gloria Kemasuode Halimat Ismaila Oludamola Osayomi Agnes Osazuwa	2008 Beijing	athletics	4 x 100 meter relay
Blessing Okagbare	2008 Beijing	athletics	Long jump

Bronze medals

Surname	Games	sport	discipline
Nojim Maiyegun	1964 Tokyo	Boxing	Light middleweight
Isaac Ikhouria	1972 Munich	Boxing	Light heavyweight
Sunday Uti Moses Ugbisie Rotimi Peters Innocent Egbunike	1984 Los Angeles	athletics	4 x 100 meter relay
Beatrice Utondu Christy Opara Mary Onyali Faith Idehen	1992 Barcelona	athletics	4 x 100 meter relay
Duncan Dokiwari	1996 Atlanta	Boxing	Super heavyweight
Falilat Ogunkoya	1996 Atlanta	athletics	400 meters
Mary Onyali	1996 Atlanta	athletics	200 metres
Olusoji Fasuba Uchenna Emedolu Aaron Egbele Deji Aliu	2004 Athens	athletics	4 x 100 meter relay
James Godday Musa Audu Saul Weigopwa Enefiok Udo-Obong	2004 Athens	athletics	4 x 400 meter relay
Chika Chukwumerije	2008 Beijing	Taekwondo	Heavyweight
Mariam Usman	2008 Beijing	Weightlifting	Heavyweight
U-23 national soccer team	2016 Rio de Janeiro	Soccer	Men's tournament

Medals by sport

sport	gold	silver	bronze	total
athletics	2	5	6th	13
Soccer	1	1	1	3
Boxing	0	3	3	6th
Weightlifting	0	1	1	2
Taekwondo	0	0	1	1
total	3	10	12	25th

Web links

• Nigeria in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Nigeria on Olympic.org  - The Official website of the Olympic movement (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Report in Spiegel from August 17, 2016
2. ↑ Message from the IOC of January 25, 2017
3. ↑ Report to Sport1 from November 17, 2016