Team Nigeria finishes 74th at Tokyo Olympics, 8th best from Africa
Post created on August 10, 2021
Team Nigeria was placed 74th at the end of the 2020 Tokyo Games on Sunday and eighth best among the 54 African nations at the Games.
| Country | Position (Africa) | Position (World) | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kenya | 1 | 19 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 10 |
| Uganda | 2 | 36 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| South Africa | 3 | 52 | 1 | 2 | 3 | |
| Egypt | 4 | 54 | 1 | 1 | 4 | 6 |
| Ethiopia | 5 | 56 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Tunisia | 6 | 58 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Morocco | 7 | 63 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Nigeria | 8 | 74 | 1 | 1 | 2 | |
| Namibia | 9 | 77 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Botswana | 10 | 86 | 1 | 1 |
| Country | Position (Africa) | Position (World) | Gold | Silver | Bronze | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Burkina Faso | 10 | 86 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Cote d’Ivoire | 10 | 86 | 1 | 1 | ||
| Ghana | 10 | 86 | 1 | 1 |
Team Nigeria won two medals – one silver and one bronze – after being represented by 55 athletes.
| Sport | Men | Women | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Athletics | 7 | 7 | 14 |
| Badminton | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Basketball | 12 | 12 | 24 |
| Canoeing | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Gymnastics | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Rowing | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Swimming | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Table tennis | 2 | 2 | 4 |
| Taekwondo | 0 | 1 | 1 |
| Wrestling | 1 | 4 | 5 |
| Total | 25 | 30 | 55 |
While Ese Brume won the bronze medal from the women’s long jump event, Blessing Oborududu won the silver medal from the wrestling event’s women’s freestyle 68kg.
The Games, which began on July 23 and ended on Sunday, had 93 of the 206 participating teams making it to the medals table, including 13 of the 54 from Africa.
The United States topped the medal count by both total golds (39) and total medals (113), with China finishing second by both respects (38 and 88). Host nation Japan finished third, setting a record for the most gold medals and total medals ever won by their delegation at an Olympic Games with 27 and 58. Great Britain finished fourth, with a total of 22 gold and 65 medals, becoming the first nation at the Summer Olympics to increase or equal their total medals won in the two Games subsequent to hosting them. The Russian delegation competing as the ROC finished fifth with 20 gold medals and third in the overall medal count, with 71 medals. Bermuda, the Philippines, and Qatar won their first-ever Olympic gold medals. Burkina Faso, San Marino, and Turkmenistan won their first-ever Olympic medals.
Mass disqualification of Nigerian athletes
On 28 July 2021, the Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Nigeria had failed to meet the minimum drug testing requirements as per “Rule 15”, which requires at least three no-notice outside of competition blood and urine drug tests no less than three weeks apart for 10 of their athletes. As such, all 10 athletes were disqualified from participating in their events.
Doping
On 31 July 2021 the Athletics Integrity Unit announced that Blessing Okagbare was provisionally suspended following a positive doping test for Human Growth Hormone from a sample collected outside of competition on 19 July 2021.
On 8 August, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games came to an end with the Closing Ceremony, which included the handover of the Olympic flag from the Governor of Tokyo, Yuriko Koike, to the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo.
