With a total of 35 medals, including 12 gold, Nigeria finished seventh at the Commonwealth Games (CWG) in Birmingham, England, and also emerged the number one nation on the African continent at the competition. Even the South Africans with their swimming exploits could not stop the historic Team Nigeria athletes in the medals table. With this amazing feat, we recall the Atlanta Olympic Games performance of Nigeria and the country’s first victory at the cadet FIFA World Cup in 1985 in China. In Birmingham, Team Nigeria displayed huge talents, so much guts and determination to excel.

Tobi Amusan was amazing with a new Games record in the women’s 100m hurdles just as Ese Brume achieved the same feat in the women’s long jump. In an event Nigeria recorded many firsts, the weightlifters started the gold rush and huge credit goes to them and the wrestling team with legend of the sport, Daniel Igali, inspiring his side to bag three gold medals plus silver and bronze medals as well. While we commend the Ministry of Sports led by Sunday Dare and all the nine federations, it is important to start thinking of recording the best-ever performance at the Olympic Games in France in two years’ time.

The stakes are high for the next sports minister because Dare has raised the bar with the recent exploits of Team Nigeria. However, while commending the glorious queens who made Nigeria proud, it is rather shocking that no Nigerian male athlete won gold at the games. The country’s male and female athletes are in the same space faced with the same challenges at home and abroad with equal opportunities but over the years, it has been the ladies doing great in sports. Aruna Quadri, who is making us proud at the global stage in table tennis, could not do the same at the CWG as the ping pong team fumbled and left England without a medal.

This was no surprise because the technical head is deficient. After the glorious reign of male athletes like Yusuf Ali, Innocent Egbunike, Adewale Olukoju, Chidi Imoh, Henry Amike, Olopade Adeniken, Osmond and Davidson Ezinwa and the others who have come up have only been able to display fleeting flashes of brilliance before disappearing from the stage. While technical or sports scientists could have an explanation for this, it is a huge challenge to the coaches to identify and nurture quality male athletes so that Nigerians can enjoy another generation of great masculine athletes. One will tend to ask if young Nigerian men no longer see sports as huge career prospects or they are not ready to work hard to achieve success in sports.

Again, we give kudos to all those who won medals for the country and the ministry and sports federations should know the success in Birmingham means more work to maintain and surpass this standard at the global stage. Let us, however, recall that before the start of the recently concluded 2022 Commonwealth Games not many had expected the Nigerian contingent to perform well. And the reasons were obvious. The preparation was not the usual one, rather it was strategic. The ministry of sports identified nine sports with medal prospects and strategically worked with the sports federations to get the athletes ready for the games.

The sports were Athletics, Boxing, Wrestling, Weightlifting, Table Tennis, Powerlifting, Para Athletics and Para Table Tennis. For example, the wrestling team was heavily given a boost by the Federal Government through the ministry while the Bayelsa State Government also played a huge supporting role. The athletes abroad enjoyed various incentives like the monthly financial stipends from the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) while the grants for elite athletes enabled them to plan for international events in various parts of the world with their coaches.

The ‘adopt-an-athlete’ initiative of Sports Minister Dare, which over 38 top athletes have benefited from, was an additional boost for Team Nigeria. And so, only a keen follower and stakeholder would know that Team Nigeria would be glorious at the Games.

We saw it coming and pointed out that we would surpass the nine gold medal feat of the last edition in Australia and also record our best-ever performance. The signs were there but the average Nigerian might not feel it because the usual preparations we are used to is seeing our athletes go on foreign tours before each global event.

Now, that the bulk of the athletes in various sports are abroad enjoying the best of facilities. Only boxing, weightlifting, judo and para sports athletes are based in Nigeria. To do well at the next Olympic Games is the target for Team Nigeria and we hereby charge all the sports federations to be up to the task ahead. It is also crucial to state that deliberate efforts must be made to ensure Nigeria identifies and develops shooters, swimmers and gymnasts to enable the country to excel at global meets.

The available medals in these sports are many such that they undoubtedly come in handy on the overall medals table. We expect the template on ground now to be maintained to boost the welfare of the athletes, with that coupled with adequate preparations and sincerity of purpose, Team Nigeria will shock the world at the next Olympic Games in France.

•PHOTO:Nigeria's after breaking the world record with a time of 12.06 seconds. (Photo Credit: World Athletics on Twitter)Tobi Amusan has won a Gold medal in the Women's 100m Hurdles at the World Athletics Championships,