PARIS 2024: Get closer to Team Nigeria

Blessing Oborududu with a silver in wrestling and Ese Brume with a bronze in long jump were the shining lights for Team Nigeria at Tokyo 2020.

Both will be in Paris defending their titles and the West Africans will have plenty of reason to believe they can come back home with more than two medals this time around.

ATHLETICS

While Brume goes into the Games with a proven pedigree, there will be plenty of expectation on Tobi Amusan to deliver being the current 100m hurdles world record holder and a World Championship gold medallist in 2022.

You have to go back to Glory Alozie at Sydney 2000 to find the last Nigerian hurdler to win an Olympic medal. A gold medal for Amusan would be a first for Nigeria in an individual track event.

As for the field events, Chukwuebuka Enekwechi will fly the flag in shot put with the national record holder competing in his second Olympic Games. He finished 12th in Tokyo and is capable of a higher finish this time around.

TABLE TENNIS

There is plenty of Olympic experience when it comes to the table tennis contingent and there is a great history of Nigerian players ruffling some feathers with upset results.

The best example of that would be Quadri Aruna who goes into these games ranked in the top 20 in the world. His run to the quarterfinals at Rio 2016 was an extraordinary feat that included beating the No 5 seed without losing a set.

Offiong Edem will be making her fifth Olympic appearance 20 years after her debut at Athens 2004 when she was 17 years old.

BASKETBALL

The women’s 5x5 team will be making their third Summer Games appearance having recently won their fourth consecutive AfroBasket tournament making them the undoubted basketball queens of the continent.

The team has been boosted by the inclusion of Michaela Onyenwere who plies her trade for the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

Keep your eye on Ifunanya Okoro too, a 25-year-old guard who has been part of the national team setup since she was 16.

FOOTBALL

With undoubtedly the best international record in Africa, it’s been incredibly disappointing that the Super Falcons have missed out on competing in the last three Summer Games.

After a Fifa World Cup campaign that saw them reach the knockouts and included a sensational 3-2 win against hosts Australia, there will be plenty of optimism that they can make an impact on their return to the Olympic stage.

Rasheedat Ajibade will captain the side. She’s a figure that can’t be missed with her trademark blue hair and she has a wealth of experience from playing at Atletico Madrid for the last three years.

Asisat Oshoala will offer firepower up front in her first Olympic Games. The former Liverpool, Arsenal and Barcelona player has a great pedigree in big tournaments having scored in each of the last three Fifa World Cups.

Goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie came up with some heroic big game moments in the last World Cup and should be another influential figure from the back.