Monday 1 July marks 25 days until the start of the 2024 Summer Olympic Games, which will be held in Paris, France, from 26 July (opening ceremony) to 11 August.
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The Kenyan Men’s Sevens Rugby team have qualified for the Olympic Games in Paris and will battle World Seven Series champions and Olympic bronze medallists Argentina, Samoa and Australia in a tough-looking Pool B with only two sides guaranteed a place in the quarterfinals.
Yet ‘Shujaa’ assistant coach Louis Kisia believes his side will relish the underdog status in the French capital: “We played with Samoa in Madrid and we have a good idea of their strengths and weaknesses. Argentina are the champions of the series and are a dynamic and very skilled outfit, while Australia are quick and very experienced.
“It’s what we had expected from our calculation. There are no easy teams and we are ready for the battle ahead. The boys are in good spirits and ready to face any team which comes their way.”
He added, “We learnt useful lessons in the promotion playoff which I believe the boys will take to the Olympics. The boys handled pressure well and never panicked at any point. This shows the maturity and mental fortitude of the boys.”
Elsewhere, United States football icon Alex Morgan has been left out of her nation’s squad for the Women’s tournament in Paris. Coach Emma Hayes says it was a tough decision to leave the 35-year-old who has struggled with injuries this year at home, but believes it is the right one.
“First off, I want to talk about what an amazing player and human that Alex Morgan has been. I’ve only had one opportunity to work with her, in the last camp, and I saw first-hand not just her qualities but her professionalism, and her record speaks for itself,” Hayes said.
“Second of all, it’s not easy making a decision that there’s only 16 outfield players and two goalkeepers on a roster of 18. So, it was a tough decision, of course, especially considering Alex’s history and record with this team. But I felt that I wanted to go in another direction.”
And finally, the Nigerian Olympic Committee (NOC) has vowed to end the nation’s long wait for an Olympic gold medal. Nigeria’s last gold was in the year 2000, when the Men’s 4x400m won silver but saw this later converted to gold by the IOC (after the disqualification of the US team for fielding a drug offender in the final race), while another famous triumph was the Super Eagles winning gold in the Men’s Football tournament in 1996 in Atlanta.
Head of the NOC, Habu Gumel, believes a gold medal will come back to Nigeria from Paris 2024: “We are working hand in hand seriously with the Federal Ministry of Sports Development to ensure that our journey to the Paris Olympics will be a huge success. So far, we have qualified 85 athletes for the Paris Games and some of our athletes are still participating in qualifying championships and more qualifications will come in.”
He added, “We believe that this time around, we will do our best while in Paris to make Nigeria proud. You know what we have been singing all along and the last time we won golds in the Olympics was at Atlanta 1996. All along since Atlanta 96 we have been getting silver and bronze medals, but we’ll break the jinx in Paris.”
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