Target Begins-Jonathan Wants Five Gold Medals From Rio 2016

[pajimoh]

5 gold medals? Well I think it's very realistic. We should be able to secure gold medals in the following events

Basket Ball (men)
Swimming (both men and women)
Equestrian
Fencing (please tell our people it's not the same as brick laying)
Rhythmic Gymnastics (you know say we get swagger)

[Oba]

5 gold medals? Well I think it's very realistic. We should be able to secure gold medals in the following events

Basket Ball (men)
Swimming (both men and women)
Equestrian
Fencing (please tell our people it's not the same as brick laying)
Rhythmic Gymnastics (you know say we get swagger)

Add gidibo too.

[tippy]

Blessing was reducing her PBs all the way up to the final though. hard to say if she was burnt out or just ran a bad race.

[Tbite]

What pisses me off about this directive is not the initiative itself, but the demand for 5 gold medals and then going ahead to say, we must do this by 2014, do this by 2016 etc...but they have not said what they would do to ensure that the 5 gold medals are not just a pipe dream

I see these guys are not serious. When the government pledges to anything of material substance, then I will be willing to be better than cynical

No lessons learned yet.

Wanaj0, the target is NOT realistic BECAUSE of the time frame. Do you know UK set the ball rolling on reforming their sports after 1996? It wasn't really until Beijing (12 years on) that they started reaping the full results.

Furthermore, number of medals is NOT the only metric for measuring progress towards reforming sports. In fact it is probably not the best measure. It is too narrow.

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

[fabio]

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

Which poor preparation are you thinking about? The Dream team or Chioma Ajunwa? Or Ogunkoya or Onyali etc.

[Tbite]

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

Which poor preparation are you thinking about? The Dream team or Chioma Ajunwa? Or Ogunkoya or Onyali etc.

Ohk to be honest I am just guessing that there was poor preparation all around, knowing Nigeria I am probably right anyway.

The only one that I definitely know was a miracle and the organization was terrible was the Dream Team (That one I know for a fact)

Anjunwa, Onyali etc I am just guessing.

[Oba]

Tbite:

The world has moved on in the past 16 years. Things have gotten A LOT MORE advanced. Technology has grown in leaps and bounds.... 1996 was an age when the Internet was that 'strange network' that geeks used in in computer labs on campus, and some mainframe computers operating in those days, had about the processing power of an iPad today and cost millions!

The world didn't stand still. The world progressed massively, but we slid back! Do you know that in Cycling for instance, Team GB's equipment were a massive engineering undertaking, involving teams of brilliant engineers in top aeronautic and automotive firms working on the most minute details of all that was used? Even the tinting of the visors of the helmet were not 'random' or artistic input. They all went into finding extra fractions of a second to make the difference. Do you know that the English FA is just about to open a new $200m training facility for their national team that: "will boast 12 world-class training pitches, both grass and artificial surfaces, and a full-sized indoor pitch. It will also have state-of-the-art hydrotherapy suites, biomechanics and training gyms, video analysis amenities, educational and coaching suites and medical and sport science facilities".

Sports establishments no longer use just statisticians. They use PhD-holding financial engineers, teamed up with computer scientists that are experts at artificial intelligence, and all kinds of smart technology to gather all kinds of information, and apply AI techniques to draw information that a human mind would not be capable of 'rationally' deciphering by observation. In Rio, they'd be even further ahead. We don't even know what we're up against yet (as one can tell from the kind of targets that we are setting). We do not currently have the resources. We do not have the manpower. We do not have the leadership in place. We do not have the training facilities. We do not have the scouting network. We do not have the sports science. We do not have the institutions and mind set. All of these take time to build, so even if we started today, we cannot become world class in 4 years. Sure we will see an improvement. Sure, we may even get a gold medal, but 5 is just wishful thinking.

As for the 2 gold medals we won in 1996, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal was not the result of 'a professional approach' to producing world class performance. I'm trying to be careful about how I put it, so that I do not take anything away from her, but an element of 'help from above' was involved. She had one outstanding jump, and that was it, she won the gold.

The performance of the football team was the result of the foundations laid by the Babangida administration (especially Aikhomu) in the 80s, through to Westerhoff/Jo Bonfrere producing that outstanding world class team after about a decade of work. It all fell apart. That team was approaching was at its peak from 1994 through to 1998/2000, and it was unfortunate that politics saw us miss the next two ANCs where we'd have been undisputed favourites, and maladministration setting in, scuttled the team in France 1998, when they should have been at their VERY best. We have been in decline in football since then and we do not have the infrastructure at present to compete at that level. If we started today, in 8 years, a new generation would start to approach a new peak. Hopefully this time around, a pipeline would be in place such that before the team hits decline, the next generation would have started to emerge.

[fabio]

Ohk to be honest I am just guessing that there was poor preparation all around, knowing Nigeria I am probably right anyway.

The only one that I definitely know was a miracle and the organization was terrible was the Dream Team (That one I know for a fact)

Anjunwa, Onyali etc I am just guessing.

Regarding the Dream Team: The core of the team came from u-17 Japan'93, Tunisia'94 (had a mentality of winning) and Usa'94 (most of the team experience the loss to Italy, developing it's not over, until it's all over mentality) etc. The Olympic qualifiers was taken seriously after drawing at home with Kenya (I believe Billy Bazuaye was the coach). The foreign based pros (The NFA took it very serious) were called for the battle of Mombasa. We won 3-0.

I can't remember who we played in the second. I remember we met Egypt in the last round. Prior to the Team leaving Nigeria, we played Togo in a friendly and we lost 3-1. I think that was the match Emmanuel Babayaro, lost his position to Dosu Joseph. Emma conceded three goals in the first half, i think and Dosu came on in the second half. We prepared for the Atlanta'96. (football) It was a long -term plan and vision from (u-17, to Tunisia'94 and Usa'94) , although it was written down

[fabio]

Tbite:
As for the 2 gold medals we won in 1996, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal was not the result of 'a professional approach' to producing world class performance. I'm trying to be careful about how I put it, so that I do not take anything away from her, but an element of 'help from above' was involved. She had one outstanding jump, and that was it, she won the gold.

Oba, this one na real fabu.

I believe after Chioma drug ban was completed. I might be wrong but Segun Odegbami assisted her rehabilitation process and coaching towards the games. The 'one outstanding jump' of 7.12 was a result of years of preparation. Chioma went on to claim silver in the World in-door champions (1997).

Yes, Chioma was indeed prepared 'professional or not' and yes with 'help from above'.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Tbite: As for the 2 gold medals we won in 1996, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal was not the result of 'a professional approach' to producing world class performance. I'm trying to be careful about how I put it, so that I do not take anything away from her, but an element of 'help from above' was involved. She had one outstanding jump, and that was it, she won the gold.

There has hardly been a long jump event which wasn't won by one brilliant jump out of left field. When Mike powell broke Bob Beamon's 23-year old record in 1991, he had been languishing in 4th place with a best jump of just over 27 ft. In one fell swoop, he broke the record with a jump of 29ft 4in. Wouldn't that also qualify as having an element of 'help from above'


Cheers.

[Oba]

Tbite: As for the 2 gold medals we won in 1996, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal was not the result of 'a professional approach' to producing world class performance. I'm trying to be careful about how I put it, so that I do not take anything away from her, but an element of 'help from above' was involved. She had one outstanding jump, and that was it, she won the gold.

There has hardly been a long jump event which wasn't won by one brilliant jump out of left field. When Mike powell broke Bob Beamon's 23-year old record in 1991, he had been languishing in 4th place with a best jump of just over 27 ft. In one fell swoop, he broke the record with a jump of 29ft 4in. Wouldn't that also qualify as having an element of 'help from above'


Cheers.

Yes it does, but the question is the target of 5 gold medals. It isn't realistic to EXPECT 5 Gold medals from such scenarios. In most cases, it will boil down to a lot of hardwork, preparation, training and that extra bit of luck, but hardly will one lucky jump win you Gold, when you get 3 jumps. We can't rule out Nigeria winning such a medal, but to bet the house on 5 gold, it would take a professional effort, the right institutions and resources, and TIME. We're now 3 years and 347 days away from Rio 2016. Not enough time.

[Oba]

Tbite:
As for the 2 gold medals we won in 1996, Chioma Ajunwa's gold medal was not the result of 'a professional approach' to producing world class performance. I'm trying to be careful about how I put it, so that I do not take anything away from her, but an element of 'help from above' was involved. She had one outstanding jump, and that was it, she won the gold.

Oba, this one na real fabu.

I believe after Chioma drug ban was completed. I might be wrong but Segun Odegbami assisted her rehabilitation process and coaching towards the games. The 'one outstanding jump' of 7.12 was a result of years of preparation. Chioma went on to claim silver in the World in-door champions (1997).

Yes, Chioma was indeed prepared 'professional or not' and yes with 'help from above'.

Watch what Chioma Ajunwa has to say about her preparations for yourself:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/in ... ajunwa.cnn

Listen to her description of her pre-event warm up. She had no 'prep' of her own, and basically sat there, watched the others and copied whatever she saw them doing. Then she won the Gold and had no idea what the significance of a gold medal was. That isn't someone who had been through 10 years (and 10,000 hours of professional training) in the build up to one moment in one's career. It was an amazing feat, but it is not the recipe to CONSISTENT good performance and world class results.

[fabio]

Watch what Chioma Ajunwa has to say about her preparations for yourself:

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/in ... ajunwa.cnn

Listen to her description of her pre-event warm up. She had no 'prep' of her own, and basically sat there, watched the others and copied whatever she saw them doing. Then she won the Gold and had no idea what the significance of a gold medal was. That isn't someone who had been through 10 years (and 10,000 hours of professional training) in the build up to one moment in one's career. It was an amazing feat, but it is not the recipe to CONSISTENT good performance and world class results.

Oba, am sorry, this is rather disappointing from you.

Chioma is talking about her pre-game's nerves, how she was overwhelmed by the occasion, opponents and not her lack of preparation. According, to Chioma she was no longer afraid because she had copied the warm up of superstars around her. (fake it, till you make it)

Chioma claims that she professional trained by the Police for the Police games. About the Gold, Chioma is talking about her lack of exposure internationally in comparison to contemporaries such Onyali and Ogunkoya.

[Oba]

Let me get this straight. You believe the 'lucky' approach of Chioma is sufficient to achieve consistent world class results?

[Mr. Piffington]

What pisses me off about this directive is not the initiative itself, but the demand for 5 gold medals and then going ahead to say, we must do this by 2014, do this by 2016 etc...but they have not said what they would do to ensure that the 5 gold medals are not just a pipe dream

I see these guys are not serious. When the government pledges to anything of material substance, then I will be willing to be better than cynical

No lessons learned yet.

Wanaj0, the target is NOT realistic BECAUSE of the time frame. Do you know UK set the ball rolling on reforming their sports after 1996? It wasn't really until Beijing (12 years on) that they started reaping the full results.

Furthermore, number of medals is NOT the only metric for measuring progress towards reforming sports. In fact it is probably not the best measure. It is too narrow.

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

So in other words: we should just keep relying on miracles?

Boss, that was 96, we're in the 21st century and more countries are getting more competitive, we can't afford this fire brigade approach to everything. If we were serious we would be preparing for the 2024 olympics now.

[Mr. Piffington]

Let me get this straight. You believe the 'lucky' approach of Chioma is sufficient to achieve consistent world class results?

Boss, don't bother, some of these folks will NEVER get it. They'll make excuses for everything only to come back and wonder why Nigeria will go there as the most populous African nation and get a grand total of zero medals. Look at the mentality of people here and see the similarities to those who rule Nigeria.

[Tbite]

What pisses me off about this directive is not the initiative itself, but the demand for 5 gold medals and then going ahead to say, we must do this by 2014, do this by 2016 etc...but they have not said what they would do to ensure that the 5 gold medals are not just a pipe dream

I see these guys are not serious. When the government pledges to anything of material substance, then I will be willing to be better than cynical

No lessons learned yet.

Wanaj0, the target is NOT realistic BECAUSE of the time frame. Do you know UK set the ball rolling on reforming their sports after 1996? It wasn't really until Beijing (12 years on) that they started reaping the full results.

Furthermore, number of medals is NOT the only metric for measuring progress towards reforming sports. In fact it is probably not the best measure. It is too narrow.

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

So in other words: we should just keep relying on miracles?

Boss, that was 96, we're in the 21st century and more countries are getting more competitive, we can't afford this fire brigade approach to everything. If we were serious we would be preparing for the 2024 olympics now.

How does hoping for something in 2014....affect our chances for 2024?

[Mr. Piffington]

What pisses me off about this directive is not the initiative itself, but the demand for 5 gold medals and then going ahead to say, we must do this by 2014, do this by 2016 etc...but they have not said what they would do to ensure that the 5 gold medals are not just a pipe dream

I see these guys are not serious. When the government pledges to anything of material substance, then I will be willing to be better than cynical

No lessons learned yet.

Wanaj0, the target is NOT realistic BECAUSE of the time frame. Do you know UK set the ball rolling on reforming their sports after 1996? It wasn't really until Beijing (12 years on) that they started reaping the full results.

Furthermore, number of medals is NOT the only metric for measuring progress towards reforming sports. In fact it is probably not the best measure. It is too narrow.

I think it is realistic. Nigeria has won 2 Gold medals in an Olympics with poor preparation.

Yes Atlanta 96 had poor preparation. If you read what went on behind the scenes, it was a miracle that we did great by our standards.

So in other words: we should just keep relying on miracles?

Boss, that was 96, we're in the 21st century and more countries are getting more competitive, we can't afford this fire brigade approach to everything. If we were serious we would be preparing for the 2024 olympics now.

How does hoping for something in 2014....affect our chances for 2024?

No, my point is that this business of going to the olympics and hoping is hopeless.

[fabio]

Let me get this straight. You believe the 'lucky' approach of Chioma is sufficient to achieve consistent world class results?

Boss, don't bother, some of these folks will NEVER get it. They'll make excuses for everything only to come back and wonder why Nigeria will go there as the most populous African nation and get a grand total of zero medals. Look at the mentality of people here and see the similarities to those who rule Nigeria.

Oba and Pappy, please educate me on the 'lucky' approach of Chioma.

Facts:
According to the Video Oba posted (Chioma on CNN)

---The Nigerian Police employed Chioma as a Sporting Cadet, the Police provided training facilities and coaching for her since the age of 14.

--- Chioma played for Nigeria in China'91, the first female world cup.

--- After Chioma's banned. Chioma, her coach, manager and advisers decided to concentrate on the Long Time and not sprints. Chioma trained her hard with facilities provided in Nigeria.

--- After years of hard work, Chioma came good when, it mattered the most.

Where is the luck?

Football Gold.

Fact:

--- Kanu, Oruma, Babangida, Celestine and Emmanuel won u-17 world 1993.

--- After five years of preparation and planning (Amokachi, Okechukwu, Oliseh, Okocha) won the nations cup and they played in the World Cupin 1994

--- The products of Westerhof five year planning, coupled with the pre-planning and preparation for Japan 1993 and the failure of the Mauritius 1993 (Taribo and Okocha) under 20 Africa tournament.

--- The youth and senior came good in Atlanta.

Where is the luck?

[Chief Bambostic]

I have a feeling he wanted to say 50 gold medals, not 5 gold medals, because medals are won by words of the mouth in Nigeria. The sports minister, who should be fired for being incompetent but still at large, will make sure that Nigeria wins 50 gold medals in 2016 as long as he still remains the sports minister.

Well he didnt say 50.
He said FIVE, as in 1,2,3,4,5.
That's not unrealistic and in fact can be surpassed.

Can and will are two different things. In the history of our olympics we only have TWO gold and all of a sudden we go manufacture 5 in 4 years? i laff..

KPOM...