Depointer1: Anthony Oluwafemi Olaseni Joshua (born 15 October 1989) is an English amateur boxer from Finchley in London, England, competing in the 91kg+ (Super-Heavyweight) division, and representing Finchley ABC & GB Boxing. He is ranked Number 3 in the World at 91kg+ by the AIBA World Rankings.

Jiah011:

I agree 100%!!! I made a similar post somewhere. If one's parents emigrated from their country and their children are born in a new country, those children born in that new country are citizens and people of that new country by nationality. Their heritage is elsewhere, but where they are born and raised is their home.

Nigeria had nothing to do directly in forming those athletes, so why do they feel obligated to claim them?

With all the corruption, tribalism, bribery, materialism, lack of institutions, etc, how can great athletes, or even other people striving for greatness with real raw talent survive in Nigeria? Not that people are not successful in Nigeria, but it's hard to do it based on sole merit and hard work. If you have money and connections, it's a lot easier. It's always North vs South, East vs West, Politics, titles-- "Who you be" or "Do you know who I am?" Enemies of Progress. A nation that eats their young by refusing to invest in them to foster a brighter tomorrow. It takes a lot of dedication and investing in talent to refine it to greatness. At least these other countries have provided means to create world-class, Olympic athletes for it people, including those of Nigerian decent. You can't say that it's an issue of just being a developing Nation, because others nations in this category are being successful. Nigeria loves to boast about itself, but what is there really for us to boast about? A lot of talk, but nothing to show for it.

Let these athletes be. They are not obligated to represent Nigeria simply because of their surname. They are representing their respective homes. People of all countries travel and make new homes for themselves. Why should Nigeria be any different? It's hard enough representing a country like Nigeria that has such a negative reputation internationally. At least these young people are showing that not all Nigerians are bad, even if they are not directly competing under Nigeria's flag.

antitpiah:
Not quite true. Home is where your heart is, not necessarily where you are born. If you live in a place and pay your taxes you are a citizen. Your nationality is still defined by your ethnic group/heritage/affiliation. Ohuruogu, for instance is a Nigerian name. To claim otherwise for the sole purpose of making yourself feel better about who you really are is dishonesty. I do agree that people should be free to decide what country they want to represent. What Island. People should be free to act in their own interest, monetary or otherwise. That said, the fact still remains that you cant simply wake up and change who you are all of a sudden. No one exist in a vacuum. We all started from somewhere. And that place is HOME. Ohuruogu's home is not the UK. Her home is whereevre her parents call home. She is part of something bigger than her and she just, like the rest of her cohort, cant just cut herself off from her origin or ethnicity.

No one is claiming anything. We are just stating facts as we know them. Well if Nigeria had nothing to do with forming them, then I guess they should return the discipline they got from their NIGERIAN parents. They should wipe off the millions of years of information inprinted on the NIGERIAN DNA they were freely bequeathed by their NIGERIAN parents; dont forget that they are only able to achieve this much in part because of the DNA shoulders of the ancestors they are standing on.


There is corruption everywhere. If Americans ran to Russia because there is corruption in America, we wont have America as it is now. There is no miracle elsewhere, we all need to pitch in if we ever going to see a Nigeria of our dreams. It is easy to blame others. Change we come only when we start taking responsibilities for our actions, inaction and baseless criticisms

Some people have already suggested that the athletes competing for other countries are selling their souls. I agree to some extent, an Italian in NY is an Italian in Milan: It is true that home is what you decide to call home, but nationality is who you are, your ethnic group and the DNA haplotypes you possess. In the couple of years since we started (1952) competing at the Olympics, we've had some amazing experiences as a nation: heart-pounding encounters like Nojim Maiyegun's bronze medal at the 1964 games; incredible, world class individual performance by Chioma Ajunwa at the 1996 games; Exhilarating, out of this world experience from the Dream team, that we hoped would never end. We are currently in some ruts that is going to take our collective effort and imagination to get out of, a lot of hard work and patriotism is going to be needed in the years ahead if we ever going to live up to our potential. Still, as the saying goes, representing your father land is like pizza — even when it's bad as it is right now, it's pretty damn good. I am Nigerian first, and I plan on continue being Nigerian.

solomon111: Smh.
I dont blame them.
I may do the same,if i were in their shoes.
The glory of the west in all strata of life,was indeed built on the backs of africans.

mrvictor:

I too would have done same.
Just look at Okagbare, if she had represented another sane country, she would have been a medalist by now.

shymex:

If selling your soul for riches = lucky..

I guess they're lucky...

kutchs: She won a bronze medal at Beijing 2008 representing insane Nigeria, Chioma Ajunwa won a Gold in 96 representing insane Nigeria, Mary Onyali, Falilat Ogunkoya, Gloria Alozie, Sunday Bada, Innocent Egbunike, Duncan Dokiwari and countless others have all won medals representing insane Nigeria so I dont get ur point really. Now tell me how many of those Nigeria related athletes representing a sane GB have won medals aside Ohuruogu and Ogogo.

Mr.chippychappy:
Lawrence Okoye - Team GB men discus throw

yamakuza: If we were to count all the medals won by Nigerians at this Olympics (whether representing Nigeria or not), what would our position on the medals table be?

That can help us know exactly what we are missing, if we are missing anything at all by not having them compete for us.

BabaOlowo: There is also Danielle Alakija for FIJI

omartins: What do you people think of Sanya Richard of USA (100m). SANYA is a yoruba name.

publisher: [size=15pt]Can we also take time out to celebrate other Nigerians that were born and bred abroad but still decided to represent Naija to the fullest.

Peter Odewinge
Victor Anichebe
Victor Moses
Jonathan Akinyemi
Abeg,if una know any forward their names jare.

Immigration is a way of life,it has nothing to do with how good a country is economically. Most of the Jamaican Athletes doing their country proud were either born,bred,raised or TRAIN in the United States of America. It's a personal decision,some people feel strongly about their heritage,others dont.[/size]

Jazzpa: Happy they are doing great for their respective countries.
Methink Nigeria should diversify their focus on games other than football and track events into things like archery, [size=14pt]shooting[/size], hockey and long jump..may even go as far as sending our professionals to train outside naija if they expect any better result next time..