Olympics: Ajunwa Blames State Govs For Nigeria’s Woes

Atlanta 1996 Olympics gold medalist, Chioma Ajunwa, has blamed the state governors in the country for the poor performance of Team Nigeria at the just concluded London 2012  Olympic Games.

Speaking on Ray Power early today,  Ajunwa said that failure of the state governors to fund their  sports councils was one of the  factors responsible for the dismal performance of Team Nigeria in London.

“I will blame our state governors for the poor performance of Team Nigeria in the Olympics. In the past, we used to discover talents from the state competitions. These athletes would later represent the country in international competitions and came back home with laurels. Unfortunate, no platform to discover talents from the state again  but today.

“Lack of proper funding by the governors for the sports associations through various states’ sports councils to  organise regular competitions where young talents could be discovered for  the next All Africa Games, Commonwealth Games and the Olympics,” she said .

Ajunwa chided state governors for encouraging poaching of athletes for the National Sports Festival, which according to her, has rubbished the idea of the national fiesta.

—Sunday Akintoye