Solomon Dalung, Nigeria’s minister of youth and sports development, has said that athletes do not need to “to much preparation” to stand out in competitions.
The minister was commenting on the recent poor outing of the Nigerian team to the just-concluded Rio Olympic games held in Brazil.
According to Vanguard, Dalung, made this comment on Sunday, September 11, 2106 when he featured on Brila FM Radio.
The minister commended the Nigerian Paralympic team for their “excellent performance” in the on-going games in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. He said they are winning medals not because they practiced, but because they have a winning mindset.
Dalung said all the team needs is a winning mentality and not too much preparation.
“The disabled athletes have shown that all you need is a winning mentality and not too much preparation, they trained under the same condition with their able bodied counterparts but they are winning medals now,” Dalung is quoted as saying.
Odunayo Adekuruoye, a Commonwealth athletic champion, speaking on the same programme, however, refuted the minister, saying that an athlete who trained for only a month or two would never perform well or even think of winning a medal.
Adekuruoye also apologized to her fans for disappointing them in the Olympics. “It is not possible to win a medal with one or two months training. We had looked forward to good training and hoped to do well at the Olympics. I want to apologise to Nigerians who had looked up to me for a medal,” she said.
