1.0Mathematical 7https://mathematical7.com/m7rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="sZoy1fSirD"><a href="https://mathematical7.com/m7/rio-2016-back-to-the-future/">Rio 2016 – back to the future!</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://mathematical7.com/m7/rio-2016-back-to-the-future/embed/#?secret=sZoy1fSirD" width="600" height="338" title="“Rio 2016 – back to the future!” — Mathematical 7" data-secret="sZoy1fSirD" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" scrolling="no" class="wp-embedded-content"></iframe><script type="text/javascript"> /* <![CDATA[ */ /*! This file is auto-generated */ !function(d,l){"use strict";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&"undefined"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!/[^a-zA-Z0-9]/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret="'+t.secret+'"]'),c=new RegExp("^https?:$","i"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display="none";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute("style"),"height"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):"link"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute("src")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener("message",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll("iframe.wp-embedded-content"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute("data-secret"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+="#?secret="+t,e.setAttribute("data-secret",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:"ready",secret:t},"*")},!1)))}(window,document); //# sourceURL=https://mathematical7.com/m7/wp-includes/js/wp-embed.min.js /* ]]> */ </script> https://mathematical7.com/m7/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Rio_2016_3.jpg275183I love Nigeria with all my heart. This love affair is rooted in my relationship with the country since I set out meandering through the mazy world of sports. It has been an incredible journey through some of the best and the worst periods in the history of the country. Given the depth of my personal experiences, I can only truly see the state of the country through the narrow lens of sports. That is my reality. So, even as I express opinions on Nigeria today they are sincere. These past two weeks have been harrowing, to say the least. It has been a nightmare sitting and watching Nigeria at the Olympics games put up probably the poorest kind of advertisement for the country. The tragedy is not that the athletes performed poorly. They actually did their best under the circumstances they found themselves. The real tragedy is that Nigeria could have been absent from the games and the world would not have known the difference! Only the national Under-23 football team shone briefly and then was extinguished by their inability to rise above the shoddy circumstances they found around them. Nigerians all know that the biggest take away from Rio 2016 is a lesson on how not to prepare for an Olympics. Preparing for the Olympics is an 8-year marathon of hard-work, focus and shared responsibilities between all those with a part to play in discovering, nurturing, funding, training and preparing the athletes to compete at their very best. Whatever happened to the Nigeria of my dreams? How did the country get to this sorry state of affairs? What happened to the country somewhere along the course of its journey? At what point did the country derail? Whatever happened to that country that emerged from a brutal civil war in 1970 with a war chest of resources, useful lessons, and a resourceful people determined to set aside their sad story and race to become a global superpower in virtually all fields of human endeavour including sports? I grew up as a part of that post-war Nigeria, a country that fed its citizens with a menu of hope and drinks from the brook of greatness. I believed enthusiastically that Nigeria was on course to becoming a great nation and a global sporting superpower. I wanted to be a part of that future. These past two weeks, as I sat and watched lesser countries celebrating their achievements in Rio 2016, for the first time in my life I started to feel the faint pangs of regret seeping through my veins, a slow asphyxiation of the fire of hope kindled in me when I set out on my life’s journey as a young boy from Jos in 1970 with the vision of academic scholarship and the gift of football in my feet. I became a living witness to the experiences of that period to date.