As the curtain falls on the 12th African Games tonight in Rabat, Team Nigeria places second as at close of most events on Friday night. The position will certainly not change, but there could be additional medals for events not concluded.
As at Friday night, Nigeria had 44 gold, 30 silver and 47 bronze medals making a total of 121 medals. Nigeria will certainly not be overtaken by the third-placed South Africa, which has 87 medals comprising of 36 gold, 26 silver and 25 bronze medals.
In all the different shades of medals, Nigeria ranks higher than the third-placed team.
The bulk of Nigeria’s medals came from weightlifting, which accounted for 16 gold, 13 silver and 18 bronze medals. This is followed by athletics, which accounted for 10 gold, seven silver and six bronze medals.
The medal haul of Nigeria in wrestling is a bronze, four silver and seven gold medals. Next is the relatively less popular Canoeing where Nigeria had four gold medals.
Table Tennis fetched Nigeria two gold, four silver and four bronze medals. In badminton, Nigeria won two gold, three silver and three bronze medals. Basketball fetched Nigeria two medals comprising of a gold and bronze.
In football, Nigeria had a gold and a silver medal. Nigerian boxers won a gold, silver and five bronze medals. Table tennis fetched Nigeria two gold four silver and four bronze medals.
Nigeria had a gold medal in Karate. In gymnastic, it was a gold medal and two bronze medals. Taekwondo fetched Nigeria, a gold medal.
Egypt are the runaway leaders, a position they have maintained in almost all editions of the Games except that of 2003 when Nigeria topped and in 1978 when they withdrew midway owing to perceived hostility with Algeria.
Forty-one years on, sporting ties between Egypt and Algeria have remained strained with football encounters involving both countries being tagged as ‘high risk’.
Incidentally, it was at the 1978 edition that current hosts, Morocco last participated. Their withdrawal from succeeding editions was politically motivated after the then Organisation of African Unity (OAU) took sides with the Western Sahara.
The now dormant Supreme Council for Sports in Africa (SCSA) ran the Games at inception, which was a sporting arm of the OAU. The games are no longer under the control of African Union (AU), the successors to OAU.
…tops in athletics
As the curtain falls on the 12th African Games in Rabat, Nigeria held on to top spot in the athletics medal standings.
Traditionally, Kenya always controls that discipline of the Games. But this time around, Nigeria upstaged the East Africans by virtue of having three more bronzes than Kenya.
Each of Nigeria and Kenya have 10 gold and seven silver medals. But while Kenya has three bronze medals, Nigeria has six.
Nigeria caught up with Kenya on the last day of athletics after winning two gold medals, which came from the women’s shot put and the women’s 4x400m relay.
Oyesade Adetola Olatoye won the Womenโs Shot Put with a throw of 16.61m, while the relay team came home first in 3:30.32 in the 4ร400 on Friday.
As battle for the top three on the medals table hots up at the 12th African Games in Rabat, more Nigerian athletes are winning medals. Kelechi Promise Nwanaga hauled her projectile over 55.88 metres to win the gold medal in the women’s javelin event on Wednesday evening.
Hardly the joy of the victory subsided that Favour Chukwuka Ofili won the silver medal in the women’s 400metres.
Chidi Anthony Okezie winning a bronze medal in the men’s 400 metres followed that of Ofili.
In the Women’s 100m Hurdles, Tobi Amusan clocked 12.68 seconds to win the gold medal.
Before then, Uche Devon Eke won the gold medal in the Men’s Pommel Horse Final of gymnastic.
