1.0Mathematical 7https://mathematical7.com/m7rich600338<blockquote class="wp-embedded-content" data-secret="Aii1SvmCPo"><a href="https://mathematical7.com/m7/the-olympic-medals-i-never-won/">The Olympic medals I (never) won!</a></blockquote><iframe sandbox="allow-scripts" security="restricted" src="https://mathematical7.com/m7/the-olympic-medals-i-never-won/embed/#?secret=Aii1SvmCPo" width="600" height="338" title="“The Olympic medals I (never) won!” — Mathematical 7" data-secret="Aii1SvmCPo" 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.jpg275183It was during the summer of 1976 that I went to my first Olympics. I was a freshly minted graduate of Mechanical Engineering getting ready to report to Lagos where I had been posted to for my national youth service when the invitation to join the national football team, the Green Eagles, came via an announcement on national television! The team was on a 6-nation European tour en-route that year’s Olympic games taking place in Montreal, Canada. I was invited to join them by the Nigeria Football Association. In 1996 the Green Eagles were on an ascendancy having come third earlier that year at the African Cup of Nations in Ethiopia, a feat that was unprecedented at that time in the history of the country’s football. After that, the team had also defeated the reigning African champions, Morocco, to qualify for the second time in Nigeria’s football history for the football event of the Olympic games. The first time it did so was in 1968 for the Mexico Olympics. By 1996, for me, going to the Olympics was like going to another planet. It was not for ordinary mortals. Only the gods went to the Olympics! But then it happened. Nigeria got to the final qualifying hurdle and upset the form books by defeating Morocco. Thompson Usiyen, unarguably one of Nigeria’s most gifted strikers, was tormentor-in-chief of the Moroccan defence that could not believe the hurricane that hit them. I was not a part of the team up until that point. I was a final year student somehow dangerously joggling my studies with club football duties for Shooting Stars FC that were campaigning for that year’s Africa Cup Winners’ Cup. The club was making great progress in the African club competition and my contributions had been very pivotal to its success. So impressive was I in the quarter-final match against Rokana Red Devils of Zambia in the two legs in Nigeria and in Zambia, (I scored two of Shooting Stars’ three goals in both matches that knocked out the Zambian club), my name was hurriedly sent on the last day for submission of the final list of Nigeria’s team to Montreal to replace Jide Dina, a childhood friend and central defender for Mighty Jets FC of Jos. That’s how I miraculously found myself drafted in at the last minute and flown alone to Germany to join the rest of the Eagles already training there en-route Montreal. It was a surreal experience, to say the least – from school to Europe and to the Olympics within the space of a few weeks.