IN a recent interview with NewsCentral, Sade Olatoye, a Nigerian shot put athlete, revealed that she and her teammates received no financial support from the Nigerian government in their preparations for the 2024 Olympics.
When asked about the support they received, Olatoye stated that everything was self-funded, including training, coaching, medical expenses, and competition fees.
She emphasized that it wasn’t until they reached the championship stage that they heard about potential grants, which barely covered two per cent of their four-year training expenses.
Olatoye said “Pretty much every year, me and my teammates, everything is out of pocket.
“We pay for our own training, coaches, medical, competition, so everything is out of pocket. It is not until we get to the championship that we start hearing about potential grants.
“I have been training for four years, being given the grant at the competition which doesn’t pay for 2% of what I pay out of my pocket for four years of training.”
It is recalled that the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh has issued an apology to Nigerians over the poor outing of the Nigerian team at the just-concluded 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
President Bola Tinubu had approved ₦12bn for the country’s outing at the Olympics and the Paralympics. ₦9bn was earmarked for the former while ₦3bn was budgeted for the latter.
Despite the funding, Nigeria had ended the games without a medal.
Apologising to Nigerians in a statement on Sunday, Enoh said the team had fallen short of expectations.
