The Nigerian sports minister explains why a cyclist had to borrow a bike from Germany for the 2024 Olympics, highlighting challenges faced.
The Nigerian authorities have expounded on the events that caused Eze Ukpesereye, a road and track cyclist from Nigeria, to borrow an equipment of German cycling team in order for him to partake in the current Olympic Games being held in Paris, France.
On X, Eze Ukpesereye made known that she had taken out a loan to participate in the Keirin Sprint event at the Olympics. This led Nigerians to criticize those who were responsible for managing sports administration and question their ability.
On Thursday, the Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh issued a detailed statement clarifying that there was a misunderstanding regarding the situation.
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“My focus has been directed towards a social media post by Ese Ukpeseraye,” he clarified. “Upon reading the post and various accompanying remarks, I took immediate action.”
It appears that Ese’s message was misunderstood to a significant degree, possibly due to the lack of context. To ensure clarity, I must provide some explanations.
Initially, only one road race in cycling was qualified by Team Nigeria and they completed their preparations through training and obtaining suitable competition equipment.
The team had full readiness for this specific event until two weeks ago when an announcement from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) informed them of additional slots being reallocated to the Cyclist Federation of Nigeria regarding Kerin and individual sprint competitions.
This message arrived after the Cycling division along with other members of Team Nigeria departed for Olympics participation.
Nigeria received a reallocation slot because another country was disqualified, making Nigeria the subsequent eligible nation to participate. However, this extra spot necessitated the utilization of distinct cycling equipment for the competition.
“To enable Team Nigeria to participate in this track race, they require a specific piece of equipment that is approved solely for use during the Olympic games. Unfortunately, it can take several months from order placement to delivery. In order for Ese to compete, the Federation worked alongside her European club and a German-owned company to obtain a ‘Track Bike’.”
Ese will compete in an individual sprint, the race she initially qualified for, on August 9th, 2024.
