Nigeria: From hitting the US to a donut in Tokyo

Nigeria’s sentiments were those of a top team. swollen to make history. We talked about the masculine, but it also happened in the feminine. They wanted Nneka Ogwumike, an undistinguished United States privileged and dual citizen, on the list. But things also got worse there, as the International Basketball Federation did not give the green light. with kids The chaos was even bigger because of expectations, as in many of these rapid falls. Let’s define it this way, because some don’t like the word failure when it comes to sports. Nigeria’s role in these Olympics, in the past indeed, was exactly that.

0-3 and go home. They have not won any of the three matches in their group, Group B, the simplest of three matches if we look at it from their point of view. Australia reached the quarter-finals unbeaten, Italy (second) and Germany (third) qualified. The team was trained by Mike Brown, a famous coach for the Cavaliers or the Lakers in the past and an assistant to Kerr in the Warriors, and was in the presence of the Spaniards Jordi Fernandez (Nuggets), from his confidence after encountering in Cleveland, in the coaching staff. Neither with this level nor with eight NBA players in their ranks managed to avoid disaster.

Shimze MitoAnd among the most prominent events in the conclusion (22 + 10), his destruction in the press conference after the exclusion, an obvious injury, the authorities of his country, including the Olympic Committee: “I would like to take this moment to focus and talk about what happened off the field and the Nigerian athletes had to put up with these games. It’s very difficult to get out there and try to focus on basketball when you’re dealing with a lot. Off the field. Some of us representing Nigeria here have risked everything, they’ve We put it all in, but our government and the Olympic Committee made it very difficult to get out and focus on your sport. I’m not just talking about basketball. For example, from athletics. What they did was not pay attention. For sixty individual athletes traveling from side to side in world, and we can not pass that way by their country.. Situations that affect, of course, anyone is vulnerable, although there are mistakes in basketball that go beyond that and defeats can only be partially justified.

The coach-imposed American style made the Nigerians a chaotic team without guidance on the field, with Okogie well below the expected performance. Okafor was only seen on the last day, and Odo was the only one who did not play this last match after signing for Virtus and a few Americans like Okbala, Oni or Ochiwa.

This team was the first to defeat the United States in preparation for the Games. A great game in Las Vegas followed by a series of claims on social networks about the power of those players who, after a few weeks, self-destruct without a persistent solution. From that day only press clippings remained, not the soul.

In all the years that Olympic basketball has gone by, no African has made it to the men’s team quarterfinals. It was tried again with some who came to break the corduroy, but it will remain in longing until, at least, three years later. There was hope for at least this step, but no. And to see the future of Mike Brown referred to this fall.