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2020 Summer Olympic Games
Tokyo, Japan
July 23 - August 8, 2021
Nigeria will be making their 17th appearance in the Olympic Games and they only missed the 1976 Olympics in Montreal because of its partial support of the African boycott.
We take a closer look at some of Nigeria's leading medal contenders:
Blessing Okagbare (athletics)
The experienced sprinter remains Nigeria's fastest woman and she will be making her fourth appearance in the Olympic Games having won two gold medals at the African Championships in the 100 meters.
Okagbare also broke the long-standing African 200m record with her run of 22.04 seconds in 2018, previously set by her compatriot and Olympic bronze medalist Mary Onyali.
The 32-year-old also holds the Women's 100 meters Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds and she will be hoping to emulate Onyali in Japan.
Nigeria's national basketball team
Nicknamed the D'Tigers, Nigeria recently sent a warning to the teams which are set to participate in the men's basketball competition in Tokyo by defeating tournament favourites, USA 90-87 in an exhibition match.
Nigeria's 2020 Olympic Squad features eight active NBA players, namely Precious Achiuwa (Miami Heat), Chimezie Metu (Sacramento Kings), Jordan Nwora (Milwaukee Bucks), Jahlil Okafor (Detroit Pistons), Josh Okogie (Minnesota Timberwolves), KZ Okpala (Heat), Miye Oni (Utah Jazz) and Gabe Vincent (Heat).
Having been pitted against Germany, Australia and Italy in Group B in Tokyo, D'Tigers will be confident of going all the way and winning gold.
Nigeria coach Mike Brown was clear when he told Olympics.com that his team was going to the Olympics in 2021, 'to try and win'.
"One is [to] be organised and the other one is finding a way [to] outwork anybody. Those are the two things that I know for sure that I can bring to the table," Brown said.
"Before the players get involved, [I’ve been] making sure that I have a plan structurally for the organisation that will not only be good for the Olympics, but that will be good [and] long-lasting for many years going forward."
Divine Oduduru (athletics)
The diminutive sprinter announced himself to the world when finishing second behind athletics icon Usain Bolt in the 200 meters on his Olympic debut in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 2016.
A two-time Nigeria national champion, Oduduru's personal best of 20.34s at the time and he was also the only Nigerian male sprinter to have made it into a semi-final at the event.
The 2014 World Junior Championships silver medalist will be determined to go one step further and reach the 200 meters final where he would be in a good position to win a medal.
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Ese Brume (athletics)
The 25-year-old is a three-time African senior champion in the Long Jump and holds a personal best of 7.05 m (23 ft 1+1⁄2 in) and she was one of Nigeria's better performers at the 2016 Olympics.
Brume, who was a gold medalist at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, narrowly missed out on a medal in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as she finished fifth in the final with a leap of 6.81m.
She is arguably Nigeria's best hope of winning a medal in Tokyo having finished third at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Qatar.
Nigeria's performance at 2016 Olympic Games
Medals: 1
Gold Medals: 0
Silver Medals: 0
Bronze Medals: 1
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