₦airaland Forum

I pray our atletics coaches are sensible enough to leave out Blessing Okagbare tonight. She is injured both physically and emotionally. Our best wrestler, Amarachi, is fighting in the next 1 hour or so. I may watch him. Our medal hopes are all but dwindling, but I still believe our 4x100 and 4x400 are strong enough. We have at least 4 consistent female 400m in 51 seconds. The team is young, so naive, that may be their undoing. But it should be easy for them to enter final. Today, Gloria Asumnu and Damola Osayomi have to step up and lead the team to the final in the 4x100.
Nigeria MUST win a medal o

HAH: @ola-pluto why was the flag bearer changed at the last minute please?

Order from above is my only guess. It was supposed to be Mariam Usman, but less than 24 hours to the opening ceremony, it was changed to Boltic Sinivie of BAYELSA state. Boltic's coach is a member of the state house of rep. Figure out the rest. A phone call from Abuja can do wonders. (ALL MY OPINION).Official verdict is a bad lie that I will not bother telling you.

The main medal hopes are gone. Now is the time we know the heroes from the ordinary. Who will save our face? The pressure is certainly getting to the athletes. Selim Nurudeen ran a personal best yesterday to qualify for the semi-final of the men's 110m hurdles. He is not a medal hopeful, but he has improved.
Today, Blessing Oborududu will fight a polish champion, Michalik Monifa in the quaterfinal of the women's 63kg freestyle. Blessing is African champion, she was at the last olympics and she has been training hard with coach Igali in Bayelsa for up to 4 months. It will be a tough match, but Igali has been silently confident of his wrestlers. I also think it will be a massive boost for the president if Nigeria's medallists are from his state, considering how they changed the flagbearer at last minute.
Offcourse we still have 'golden boy' Chukwumerejie to win a medal if every other person fails. It is depressing to be a Nigerian at these games.
However, I am sure the PARALYMPICS will be great for Nigeria. We will win at least 2 gold there for sure.

hollandis: D girl is a failure ,I went to the coaches this morning so the girl could rest for the 4 by 1 but they were stupidly optimistic of her chances

She's not a failure. Psychological injury is hardest to heal

This Olympics isn't really bad for Nigeria if we have sensible sports managers. We have been close and have discovered some talents. Christy Udoh, Lara Omotosho and Regina George are all potential talents. Nigeria can invest in them and I can bet they will drop medals each in 4 years. They are all under 23 genuinely. But I bet 2 weeks from now, they will start blaming the athletes.
I think Christy Udoh will qualify for the semi final of the 200'm. Gloria Asumnu is out. Good news. She can go prepare to run the race of her life in 2nd leg for the relays. I love to see Christy Udoh in 3rd leg with Osayomi in leg 1

Mariam Usman updated her Facebook profile: the worst thing as an athlete is to have a wrong coach.

Final from 9:45pm Nigerian time. Justin Gatlin to win silver.

deekseen: See our coaches putting their hands on their heads. They messed up our medal winning chances at weightlifting. Very overambitious folks making our lifters bite more than they can chew. Why not start them around their PB and allow them progress, like in training (i suppose)?

You're correct. Mariam pushed too hard at 160kg. Did anyone see how the coach threw towel at her. As if it was her fault. Mariam was coasting so well. The person who took the bronze lifted 166. Mariam could have done that on 3rd attempt

Real Bad Luck dey follow Nigeria. Very disappointing. Things were going so smooth for Nigeria

Injury cuts out our first medal attempt.

Final attempt. Mariam out. No medal

Mariam injured

Mariam failed first attempt. 2nd attempt on

Mariam ooo. Abeg. Carry 2nd lift pls

hardeyincah: Its like Mariam Usman is out of the race...

Mariam is coming now.

If Mariam lifts her first. She goes straight to the top

Mariam is chilling and out first medal is chilling

Team Nigeria wins. Nice boxer. Now back to weightlifting

She's better in clean and jack. If she goes hard as she's been doing. She will do well

Mariam fails at 133. So she stays at 129 and still in 3rd place minimum.

Her main contender fails. So Mariam sitting pretty good in bronze at least

Mariam going for129kg. She lifts it brilliantly. Currently poised for at least bronze.

Mariam clears 125kg at first attempt. Shes looking good

I hope Mariam wasn't forced to go this high at start. If she's comfortable with these 1st lifts then she's in good shape

akintun: I heard she refused to talk to d media, claiming to have injured herself.

Nigerian press is a failure. They don't understand the sport but are ready to put all of Nigerias woes on blessing.
She needs encouragement not chastisement. People pray for Mariam Usman. She has positioned herself in 3rd place from start. She can do it

Mariam Usman has gone for sensible lifts. She starts in bronze medal position this evening. She looks in a comfortable zone for bronze. China and Russia can fight for gold and silver

Last night disappointment is weighing on me alot. I will try to update this page to the end. Today is Mariam Usman. She is in the toughest women weight group. She is good for a bronze max. Depressed with the results so far.
And why didn't Goodluck Jonathan call Blessing last night? She needed that extra push.

semid4lyfe: Ola, what time is the Nigerian female boxer fighting today?

3:30pm is when her group start. But I am not watching it. Mariam Usman weightlifting is around that time too. I doubt if Edith will win a fight.

Woke up to read this message on Blessing's facebook:
Blessing Okagbare:
Just wanna thank you guys for your love and support. Am well and I believe I will recover from my cramps by the start of the longjump. Tho I wanted more bt God knows best and I will forever praise him no matter what. Once again, thanks guys I love u all.......

SO where do we re-start before next Olympics? I strongly suggest sponsoring the younger sprinters to proper training under world renowned coaches in America. We have an abundance of female talents buzzing around. Lara Omotosho, Regina George, Christy Udoh, Tayo Talabi, and a hot of others. I am sure the former athletes can convince more male athletes to switch to Nigeria. The future is always bright for NIgeria, but we need to do things right. We still have medal hopes today (sunday) in the weightlifting. mariam Usman can win a bronze if she is very tactical.

Nigeria not impressive today at all.

Lordave: I think Skinn is out of the game.

I think He's out of the tournament.