Nigeria’s performance at the just concluded Olympics should make us question not just our sports system but the very way we think about success as a nation. Once again, our athletes stepped onto the global stage with dreams in their hearts and the weight of a nation’s expectations on their shoulders. Yet, we return home with the familiar disappointment not just a lack of medals, but a lack of direction.
The problem is not that we lack talent. Athletes like Tobi Amusan show us what is possible when Nigerians are given the opportunity to excel. But even their moments of brilliance cannot hide the rot at the core of our sports development. We celebrate individual triumphs, but we fail to ask why we can’t replicate that success across the board. The answer is simple: our sports problem is a thinking problem.
Other nations have turned their raw talent into sustained dominance by institutionalizing success. They invest in infrastructure, create robust training systems, and ensure that their athletes are supported from the grassroots to the global stage. Nigeria, on the other hand, remains trapped in a cycle of mediocrity. We celebrate the occasional star, but we do nothing to build the systems that can consistently produce world-class athletes.
This isn’t just a sports issue it’s a national issue. Mediocrity has become embedded in our culture. From sports to education to politics, we have normalized the idea that only a few can succeed, while the majority are left to struggle. We write stories about the individual successes of our global stars, but we ignore the thousands of Nigerians whose potential is crushed by a system that refuses to think.
This is why Nigeria struggles on the world stage. Our athletes aren’t just competing against their opponents; they’re competing against a system that is designed to fail them. They are forced to fight for resources, juggle inadequate training facilities, and navigate a maze of administrative incompetence. And when they do achieve success, it’s often despite the system, not because of it.
The time for short-term fixes and superficial celebrations is over. Nigeria must rethink its approach to sports and to success in general. We need to move beyond the narratives of individual brilliance and start building institutions that nurture talent, reward excellence, and create the conditions for sustained achievement. If we don’t, we will remain a nation of wasted potential, forever on the fringes of greatness.
The Olympics have exposed the truth: Nigeria’s mediocrity is self-inflicted, and it will continue to haunt us until we break the cycle and start thinking differently. The question is, do we have the courage to do so?
Shaakaa Stephanie Sewuese
University of Agriculture, Makurdi.
