The Nigeria Wrestling Federation warmly welcomed the Nigerian wrestlers back from the Paris Olympics, despite not meeting expectations.
Bashir Adewale Adeniyi, Comptroller-General of the Nigeria Customs Service and board member of the Wrestling Federation, stated that the reception aimed to motivate the athletes and show solidarity.
He expressed confidence that with the right support and environment, Nigerian wrestlers will excel in future international tournaments.
“We stay together when we are happy and stay together when we are not happy. We have a very useful lesson to learn from the experience we got at the recently concluded Olympics in Paris.”
“Therefore, this reception offers us opportunity to come together to appreciate our athletes and officials for their efforts.”
“The Olympics take place in one month every four years but we know that sometimes it takes about ten years for an athlete to prepare adequately for an Olympic. Our athletes and officials qualified for the Olympics which is the highest level of performance in the world, given their best and it was unfortunate that they were unable to win medals. But it is not the end of the world because we know that they have done it before and it is our believe that with the right support and environment they will do it again.
“Let me repeat again that it is not only when we win that we should have this kind of reception.
We find it necessary for us to show our athletes and officials that we are indeed a Federation and country that appreciate what they’ve done.” He said
Meanwhile, the President Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali, apologized to Nigerians for falling below expectations as it was one of the Federations with high hopes heading into the Olympics because of what it has been able to produce at the global stage over the years.
“We also apologize to Nigerians for not reaching the climax that we set for ourselves.”
“In the past, there was no Federation in Nigeria’s history that has won six world championships. It is only the Wrestling Federation.” Igali said.
Six wrestlers comprising one male and five females, represented Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games
The wrestlers are Ogunsanya Christianah (53kg), Kolawole Esther (62kg), Adekuoroye Odunayo (57kg), Reuben Hannah (76kg), Oborududu Blessing (68kg) and US-BASED Mutuwa Ashton (125kg).