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As Nigerians wait endlessly for the golden moment when a Nigerian wins a medal in the Paris 2024 Olympic GamesMore and more Nigerians are earning precious metals for other countries as the Olympic Games draw to a close on Sunday.
Read also: How to build a functional sports system in Nigeria: Views from Segun Solanke, Chairman and Founder of Provazios Sports Academy
Samu Omoridion and Yemisi Ogunleye are the latest Nigerians to win gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
Omoridion was part of the winning Spanish soccer team that defeated France 5-3 on Friday night to win the gold medal in men’s soccer.
Although the Nigerian was included in the squad for the final match as he is finalising his transfer to Chelsea FC and must undergo a medical to complete the move.
The highest-scoring Olympic men’s football final saw another Nigerian descendant, Michael Olise, shine for France and play his last game, but he could only settle for the silver medal as the Spaniards clinched it after 120 minutes to claim another football gold after winning their first at the Barcelona 92 edition.
Yemisi Ogunleye made history representing Germany on Friday night by becoming the first German to win a gold medal in the women’s shot put after 28 years at the Olympic Games.
Nigeria’s 20.00m shot put gold was won by Nigeria’s 20.00m final throw in the women’s Olympic shot put, beating New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche in a thrilling duel.
Wesche looked to have a podium spot secured with an excellent personal best of 19.86 on her fifth throw, but had to settle for second place on the podium when China’s Song Jiayuan (19.32) took bronze.
It was emotional to see a Yoruba woman walk through the Stade de France with the German flag draped over her shoulders after ringing the victory bell.
The silver medal winner at the World Indoor Championships captured her glorious moment by relying on her last energy and faith.
“At that moment, I was praying,” Ogunleye told reporters. “That was the moment I knew that if I have faith, I am capable of doing more than I can think or ask for. At that moment, I just took all the energy I had left and put it out there.”
Just before Samu and Ogunleye won their respective golds on Friday, Salwa Eid Naser, a Nigerian-born athlete, had picked silver for Bahrain in the women’s 400m event.
She came back with a time of 48.53 seconds behind Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who set a new Olympic record of 48.17 seconds.
It was a narrow place off the podium for another Nigerian of African descent, Rhasidat Adeleke, representing the Republic of Ireland, as she finished fourth in the race, behind Poland’s Natalia Kaczmarek, who finished third.
At the beginning of the week,
Annette Echikunwoke also won silver in the Hammer event for the US after switching allegiance from Nigeria.
This brings the number of medals won by Nigerians for other countries to five, two gold medals and three silver medals.
Team Nigeria is still looking for the first medal at the games with only one wrestler, Hannah Blessing, at the games to ensure that the country does not leave the game empty-handed.
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