Nigeria's team to Beijing Olympics is ill-prepared

LAGOS, April 1 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's bronze medallist at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics Falilat Ogunkoya said the country's contingent to the Bejing Olympics in August is ill-prepared and could have a woeful outing.

"I don't know what is wrong with us. With only about four months to the Olympics we have nothing on ground to show that we are preparing to feature at the games," Ogunkoya said.

She said in Abuja that it was sad that while most countries were busy preparing their athletes for the summer games, Nigeria was yet to start.

"It is sad that we are always used to the fire brigade approach which in any way does not take us any where," she added.

Ogunkoya, now a technical official with the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), said that "during our time the situation was much better but the situation keeps getting bad every day."

She said the Nigerian National Sports Commission should put in place machinery that would ensure early preparation of Nigerian athletes for the Olympic for optimum result.

Nigeria won the soccer gold at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, and both the men's and women's soccer teams have qualified for the Beijing Olympics.

Soccer is a popular sport in Nigeria as well as athletics.