The Olympics is over; We attained new heights in Self Destruction.

I am very gutted.
Really, I'm angry.
I'm not surprised though.
Neither am I disappointed.
The thing is that we have consistently disappointed ourselves.
We make nonsense of our potentials.
I totally expected it.
In fact, I would have been surprised if it didn't turn out this way.
It's sad that I am lamenting now given that in the words of one of my very respectable Classmates, all the Lamentation has been done in the Bible!
I'm sure that by the time you are reading this piece, The games of the 31st Olympiad in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil would have ended, and "let us go back to the drawing board" which is by far, the most used phrase in Nigerian Sports would reverberate across every Radio and Television Station in Nigeria.
Anyways, the Olympics has ended and Nigeria surpassed all expectations by winning the 'Golden Bronze' medal in the football event.
Yes! That bronze medal was truly golden given that it was the Country's first medal at the Olympics since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It may interest you to know that Nigeria's total medal haul over the course of two Olympic Games (London and Rio) is a single bronze medal.
Okay, let's look at it; Nigeria has a population of about 180 million persons, and in eight years, the best we could do at the Olympic Games was to win a single bronze medal.
Conversely, Jamaica has a population of 2.715 million people and they won 6 Gold medals, 3 Silver medals, and 2 bronze medals at the Rio 2016 Olympics alone.
In 1996, Nigeria ranked above Great Britain in the medal table in 32nd position compared to Great Britain's 36th position.
Fast forward to 2016, Great Britain is placed at Number 3 on the medals table while my beloved Nigeria is somewhere in the 85th position behind a country like Niger Republic.
My question still is; how did this happen?
Were we not supposed to do better in subsequent Olympics like Sydney in 2000, Athens in 2004, Beijing in 2008, London in 2012, and this year in Rio? Well, it's obvious that we have been far from progressive.
Like I said earlier, Team Nigeria's awful performance did not come as a surprise by any means!
It was so obvious that we were just going to Rio for mere formalities given the less than desirable preparations afforded to the different sports.
For instance, I watched the male athletics team complain bitterly about the fact that they couldn't eat for three days en route Rio; we can't forget how Chierika Ukogu, a Medical Student based in the United States had to beg for money so she could represent Nigeria in the Olympics; we are all too familiar with how the Men's Football Team, the Dream Team VI was abandoned in Atalanta because they 'disobeyed' the beret wearing Minister for Sports and how they got to Manaus, the venue for their first match barely 6 hours before kick off.
Frankly, with these glaring proofs of the Country's unpreparedness, heading into the Olympics, it would have been the miracle of the Millennium if the outcome had been any different from what it is today.
What more?
Our Lack of Preparation gave the athletes the perfect excuse for not winning.
A good number of the Athletes just admitted that they were not expecting much; that they were just there to do their bit without any expectation of success.
A perfect example is Nigeria's fastest man, Seye Ogunlewe who all but admitted that he was not expecting any medal, whilst shifting the pressure to others like Stephen Mozia and Blessing Okagbare.
With the preparation, we can't even say that the team failed.
No, the athletes didn't fail!
You can't build something on nothing and expect it to stand!
The real failures at the Olympics is the Nigerian Government and everybody who was charged with the responsibility of preparing the athletes for the games.
Yes, the Government once again, failed the athletes and every Nigerian because by their very actions and inactions, they disappointed every Nigerian who decided to watch the Olympic Games with the hope that their country was going to give them an opportunity to smile.
In this Olympics, Nigeria perhaps put on display her most unorganized showing at the Games, not in terms of her inability to win medals but in the shambolic and disgraceful way the whole Olympic team was set up.
First, there was the confusion over who would be Team Nigeria's Captain.
There was also the embarrassing story of how some officials of the football team were kicked out of their hotel room and how Captain, Mikel Obi had to intervene to save our blushes.
The most embarrassing tale coming out of Rio was the fact that Nigerian athletes wore Track Suits at the opening ceremony which is usually the Country's opportunity to showcase her culture.
What is more shocking is the fact that the wears meant for the opening ceremony arrived Rio, three days before the end of the tournament!
I can't really say much; the failures and irresponsibility of our Sports administrators are all too glaring!
If you fail to prepare, you prepare to fail!
And for Nigeria, we prepared all along to fail, and we eventually failed.
Now that Rio is over, WHAT IS THE WAY FORWARD?
It's simple; we have to start preparing for Tokyo 2020 from now!
Sports Administrators must as a matter of urgency develop a broad talent hunt programme that will bring together, Nigeria's most talented athletes, at home and abroad; attention must be paid to School Sports as a most effective way of talent discovery.
Most importantly, we must reduce our focus to our abilities, first!
Jamaica participated in only four sports at the Olympics and won 11 medals in all while on our part, we participated in about 15 different events with only one Bronze medal to show for it.
My point is that we must participate in sports where we have inherent abilities as a way of boosting our medal prospects; for instance, with adequate preparations, we can win medals in Wrestling and Boxing in Tokyo; we can also do well in the Sprint races for both the men and women's categories.
The point is that with focus and the proper preparations, the story will be different in Tokyo 2020 but in the meantime, let us lick our wounds and watch our less prestigious Neighbors, Niger Republic place higher above us in the medals table.
POSITIVES:
It was not all gloom for Team Nigeria at the Rio 2016 Olympics as there were some bright spots.
The performance of Chierika Udogu who made history by becoming the first Nigerian Rower at the Olympics will always be told with great relish considering that she got to as far as the Semi Finals in her event.
The performance of my Friend, Ese Brume who finished fifth in the Women's Long Jump finals will not also be forgotten in a hurry.
Aruna Quadri made history by becoming the first African to get to the Quarter Finals of Table Tennis in the Olympic Games, and had the world number one not stopped him in the quarter finals, we might be talking of a first Olympic medal in Table Tennis.
The Dream Team VI equally reminded us of the often suppressed Nigerian Spirit as against all odds, they were able to win Nigeria's only medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics.
I will stop by saying that Nigeria has no business winning only a bronze medal in the Olympic Games in the light of her immense human resources; by our population, we are a force to reckon with in every area of life but at the same time, it's our choice whether we remain a paper tiger.
The road to Tokyo 2020 starts now, and the outcome of our performance in Tokyo depends massively on how we deal with our disappointment of Rio 2016.