The 2016 Olympics games held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil from August 5 till last night, August 21, 2016 at Maracanã Stadium.
Host country, Brazil won seven gold medals, their most at any single summer Olympics. They also won their first ever Olympics men’s football gold medal after defeating Germany 5-4 on penalties in the finals.
Swimmer Michael Phelps and sprinter Usain Bolt announced their retirement in Rio, taking home five and three gold medals respectively.
Team USA led this year’s tournament with a total of 121 medals (46 Gold, 37 Silver and 38 Bronze).
Great Britain came second while China claimed third spot on medal table having won 70 medals.
Vietnam, Kosovo, Fiji, Singapore, Puerto Rico, Bahrain, Jordan, Tajikistan and Ivory Coast won their first Olympic gold medals at this year’s tournament.
Here’s how Nigerian stars performed at the Rio 2016 Olympics;
1. Men’s Soccer
Despite all the troubles the Nigerian team faced arriving Brazil and during the contest, they won their first medal – a bronze in men’s soccer – since 2008 Olympics in Beijing after defeating Honduras 3-2 in their third place match.
It was Nigeria’s third overall Olympic medal in football. The African nation won gold at the 1996 Atlanta Games with a 3-2 victory over Argentina. The team fell to Argentina in the final at the 2008 Beijing Games for the silver.
Billionaire Japanese plastic surgeon Katsuya Takasu who promised to reward the team even if they won no medal, presented N134million donation to coach Samson Siasia and team captain Mikel Obi after their third place victory.
2. Track and field events
Viral Nigerian internet sensation Ejowvokoghene Oduduru inched closer to an Olympic medal when he qualified for the men’s 200m semi-finals, having finished second in Heat 9 behind Jamaica’s Usain Bolt in a time of 20.34 seconds.
He finished in seventh place with a time of 20.59 seconds in the semis – Jamaica’s Usain Bolt won the gold medal in the Rio Olympics men’s 200m final, end time 19.78 seconds.
Canada’s Andre De Grasse got silver with a time of 20.02; his second Olympic medal, having been awarded bronze in the 100m final in what is his Olympics debut.
Christophe Lemaitre, representing France, was awarded bronze, after finishing in the time 20.12s.
Blessing Okagbere – who holds the women’s 100m Commonwealth Games record since 2014 – also fell out of contention in the women’s 200m after clocking 22.69secs to finish fifth in the semi-finals.
She and her teammates (Gloria Asumnu, Jennifer Madu, Agnes Osazuwa and Peace Uko) also came eighth in women’s 4x100m relay won by USA on Thursday, August 18.
Tosin Oke and Olu Olamigoke meanwhile didn’t make Triple Jump final, just as Stephen Mozia and Nwanneka Okwelogu also lost out in Shot Put.
Ese Brume also ended fifth in Long Jump, jumping a distance of 6.81m, with Doreen Amata finishing 27th in High Jump qualifications.
3. Boxing
Boxer Efe Ajagba was knocked out by Kazakhstan’s Ivan Dychko – who won Bronze medal – in the Men’s super-heavy over 91 kg.
Efe claimed his Olympic spot with a semifinal victory at the 2016 African Qualification Tournament in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
4. Men’s Basketball
D’Tigers won raised hopes of an unlikely qualification from the group stage following a shock 90-76 over in-form Croatia on Saturday, August 13, 2016.
The hopes were however dashed as Nigeria crashed out after losing their final group stage match to hosts Brazil, who also didn’t made it to last four.
Team USA won the event’s gold medal, beating Serbia to silver, while Spain bronze.
5. Canoeing
Canoeist Jonathan Akinyemi represented Nigeria at the Rio Olympics men’s K-1 class after finishing top at the 2015 African Canoe Slalom Championships in Sagana, Kenya.
Jonathan couldn’t make finalist at this year’s tournament for ranking 20th in the preliminary stage of the contest.
GB’s Joseph Clarke won the Olympics games Men’s kayak single Canoe slalom gold with end time 1:28.53, he’s followed by Slovenia’s Peter Kauza.
6. Wrestling
Nigeria qualified seven wrestlers for each of the fighting classes in Rio Olympics but none of them could make it out of the ‘Round of 16’.
Odunayo Adekuoroye lost Women’s freestyle 53 kg on ‘Victory by fall’ to Sweden’s Sofia Mattsson.
Amas Daniel and Soso Tamarau also failed to impress in Men’s freestyle 65kg and 97kg respectively
7. Weightlifting
Mariam Usman is the only Nigerian female weightlifter that participated in the Rio Olympics by making top four national finish at the 2016 African Championships.
She finished 8th in Women’s +75 kg ‘Clean & Jerk’, 11th in ‘Snatch’, but she ended 9th on the overall ranking with 265 points.
8. Boat Rowing
Chierika Ukogu who reportedly sponsored herself to this year’s competition was close to getting an Olympic medal in Rio.
She came fourth in semis, lost out in the Women’s single sculls finals in time 7:44.76 which ranked 20th – her worst reach in the tournament.
9. Table Tennis
Athletes Quadri Aruna and Olufunke Oshonaike, who represented Nigeria at the 2012 summer Olympics in London, were in Rio for this year’s Games.
Quadri, who’s ranked number 30 in 2014 world table-tennis, was defeated 4-0 by China’s Ma Long in the Men’s singles quarter-finals. Ma Long won the category’s gold medal.
Segun Toriola – the first ever African athlete to appear in seven Olympics – couldn’t make it through round two in men’s singles. He lost to Japanese tennis player Koki Niwa who was defeated by Austria’s Stefan Fegerl in the third round.
The journey of our female tennis players Offiong Edem and Olufunke Oshonaike ended in round one of women’s singles – after they lost out to Belarussian and Puerto Rican opponents respectively in Brazil.
10. Swimming
Nigeria returned to Olympics swimming competition in Rio after an eight-year absence.
Samson Opuakpo was ranked 59th in Men’s 50m freestyle preliminary stage, while Rechael Tonjoralso didn’t make it to Women’s 100m breaststroke semifinals either.
In all, it was a greatly disappointing campaign for Team Nigeria in Rio.
We hope to see our athletes do better at the next Games in Tokyo 2020.
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