Friday, August 10, 2012

Proud of Team Nigeria

We have been inundated with criticism of our Olympic Athlete. Tweeter, Facebook, Radio, TV etc. I don’t just get it. Where did we expect the medals to come from? If we have Olympics for other sectors in life what will our standing be on the medals table? Is it Power or Electricity like my people call it or Road? Is it education or health institutions? Performance is typically consistent across all facets of human endeavor. Are you surprised that the people who have the capacity to make nuclear weapons, go on space travel, science and technology are up there on the medals table.
Let’s come to the individual level? What’s your position in terms of global competitiveness? Are you a force to reckon with in your area of specialization? If you have not won the Nobel Laurel prize for your sector or gotten a nomination you are not even on the radar and have not earned the rights to put down our athletes. Can we put in the discipline of the world class athlete into our profession or calling?
If there is a sport called prayer am positive we will have won Gold, Silver and Bronze. It is time to take action. I asked my friends how many of them take their little children for Swimming lessons, tennis class, football clinic etc. Just a very few parents do. We think once they can go to school it is over. Can you appreciate the investment of the father of the Famous Williams Sisters? Or the mother of Oscar Pictoris (who has a double below-knee amputation and the 1st amputee to participate in the Olympics) who told Oscar early in his career that “The loser is not the person who comes last in a race; the loser is the person who refuses to run”.
The Nigerian athletes are not losers. At least they participated. What are you exposing your children too? Imagine what an excellent swimmer can do for our Nation come Nairobi 2024 if we just expose that little child to swimming. We are the government so don’t even bother to blame them. I remain Proudly Nigerian. @ Adeosun Oluyemi Theophilus

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