by Olaoniye Roqueebah

So every four years we get this thing called the Olympics which a lot of people will agree is the biggest sporting event ever.

This year, it’s  taking place in Rio and it’s safe to say that our Nigerian teams haven’t been doing so bad. Now that we’ve played catch up, here are five things to take away from Nigeria’s performance so far.

1. Whatever anyone says about Solomon Dalung and the logistics palava, our attitude to timeliness as a people and it’s ripple effect will be the death of us… or at-least one of the major causes of our death.

So everyone must have heard that our football team arrived at the Olympics barely in time for their first game and blames were being pushed around. But here’s my theory: we are such a people so given to late-coming that it doesn’t matter that it’s the Olympics, we’ll still be late.

 

2. Our football team is ace!

I kid you not. Some might say Mikel being the captain helped or that the team has had more practice that any other Nigerian team. All true. I say, however that our football team is ace!

 

3. If you fail to prepare, you’ve prepared to fail.

Cliché as it sounds, I think we must continue to admonish ourselves along these lines or am I the only one who thinks that the Olympics, despite the fact that it happens every four years, always seems to take us by surprise? I mean, forgetting your opening ceremony parade outfits? #OnlyInNigeria.

 

4. It’s time we invested a lot more in sports.

Over the years, there has been a very impressive commitment to creative endeavours in Nigeria and this has paid off so far. We still don’t seem to pay due attention to sports and it’s showing. Take Jonathan Akinyemi as our case in point. Imagine if a lot more had been invested in training him at Kayaking. I think he would have performed better but I guess if anyone had said that NFF should set aside money for his training, the answer would have been a straight no.

 

5. Psychological motivation works!

Kudos to whoever came up with the idea that getting our football team in the Atlanta 1996 head space. Superb idea! I’m not saying that is why they’ve won so far but it definitely helped.

Positive encouragement, psychological motivation, and all that good stuff pays.

So go on #TeamNigeria.