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Nigeria returned from the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with zero medals, but the situation could have been different if they had these athletes in their team
The Paris 2024 Olympics brought incredible moments of triumph for athletes worldwide, but for Nigeria, it was mostly a bitter affair.
It was not bad enough that Nigeria failed to secure any medal whatsoever in France, but its sports fans were forced to watch athletes who could have represented the nation star for other countries at the Olympic games.
While the nation’s athletes faced challenges, several stars with Nigerian heritage shone brightly on the global stage, winning medals that could have helped boost Nigeria’s abysmal medal count.
This article highlights five Nigeria-eligible athletes who made their mark in Paris, sparking conversations about what might have been if they had represented their ancestral homeland.
Annette Echikunwoke
Echikunwoke’s story is particularly jarring for Nigerian fans, as the Ohio-born hammer throw specialist was willing to represent Nigeria, where her parents are from, and was supposed to be part of the country’s delegation to the Tokyo 2020 Olympic games.
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However, Echikunwoke was part of more than a dozen Nigerian athletes who were barred from participating in the 2020 Olympics after reported negligence on the part of Nigeria’s Athletics Federation, which failed to set up pre-games testing for its delegates.
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Following the disappointment, Echikunwoke decided to switch her allegiance to the United States of America, for whom she delivered a silver medal in the women’s hammer throw event at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games.
Yemisi Ogunleye
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Despite showing her love for her Nigerian heritage with a Yoruba song at the World Indoor Championships in February, it was Germany who reaped the rewards of Ogunleye’s shot put excellence.
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After claiming European Championships bronze and World Athletics Indoor Championship silver medals this year, Ogunleye went a step further at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, winning Germany’s first women’s shot put gold medal in 28 years with her monster throw of 20.0 metres.
Samu Omorodion
New Chelsea striker Samu Omorodion was part of the Spain U-23 team that went all the way to win the gold medal in men’s football at the Olympics, as he made four appearances, mostly as a substitute.
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In the only match that Omorodion started at the 2024 Olympics, he got on the scoresheet, scoring Spain’s only goal in a 2-1 loss to Egypt.
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The 20-year-old forward is still eligible to play for Nigeria despite playing for Spain at the Olympics, but his international career trajectory indicates that he is more inclined to pitch his tent with the country of his birth rather than his parent’s nationality.
Michael Olise
France U-23 forward Michael Olise was born in London to a Nigerian father and a French-Algerian mother, leaving with a host of international possibilities, but the former Crystal Palace star appears to have decided on representing Les Bleus internationally.
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After missing out on France’s EURO 2024 squad, Olise showed the senior side what they missed as he starred for Thierry Henry’s side at the Olympics, eventually winning the silver medal following a 5-3 extra-time loss to Spain in the final.
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Olise scored two goals and assisted five more in six matches for France and was one of the best players in the men’s football competition, while Nigeria’s Dream Team failed to even qualify.
Salwa Eid Naser
The name Salwa Eid Naser might not sound very Nigerian, but that is because she changed her name after switching her allegiance to Bahrain in 2014 and converting to Islam.
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Eid Naser was born Ebelechukwu Antoinette Agbapuonwu in Onitsha, Anambra, to a Nigerian mother and a Bahraini father.
She has made a name for herself in Asian and world athletics, winning 25 gold medals across 200 and 400 metres in several competitions, including at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
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At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Eid Naser won the women’s 400m silver medal, finishing behind the Dominican Republic’s Marileidy Paulino, who broke the Olympic record to win gold.
Eid Nasser's silver medal also cut Rasidat Ajibade, an Irish runner born to Nigerian parents out of the medals, as she narrowly finished in fourth place.
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