Olympics Paris 2024: Sports minister explains reason Ukpeseraye borrowed German bicycle to compete
Ese Ukpeseraye
Olympics Paris 2024: Sports minister explains reason Ukpeseraye borrowed German bicycle to compete
Abdullateef Fowewe
The Minister of Sports Development, John Enoh, has revealed the reasons behind cycler Ese Ukpeseraye, cycling with a borrowed track bicycle from a German team in the ongoing Olympics in Paris, France.
On Thursday, the first Nigerian cyclist to represent the country at the Olympic Games, Ukpeseraye, stated on her X (formally Twitter) handle that she had to borrow a bicycle from her German colleagues to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
Reacting to the claim, Enoh in his X (formally Twitter) handle on Thursday evening mentioned that the track race was reassigned to Team Nigeria due to a disqualification, and acquiring the necessary special equipment would require payment and could take months for delivery.
He said, “My attention has been called to a post on social media by Ese Ukpeseraye. After reading the post and some follow-up comments I swung into action. Ese’s post seems to have been grossly misunderstood, perhaps also because it didn’t seem to give proper context to the matter in perspective.
“It is important I make some clarifications. Abinitio, Team Nigeria qualified for one road race in cycling and prepared for it in terms of training and the appropriate competition equipment. Team Nigeria was fully prepared for this road race until two weeks ago after the Cycling team with the rest of Team Nigeria had already left for the Olympics, when a communication from the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) was received reallocating additional slots to the Cyclist Federation of Nigeria (Kerin and individual sprint).
“This reallocation to Nigeria was due to the disqualification of a country, leaving Nigeria as the next eligible to make the list of qualified countries to compete.
“Unfortunately, this additional slot required the use of a different competition equipment in terms of biking. For this track race reallocated to Team Nigeria, very special equipment (approved specifically for the Olympic track game) is used. It’ll take months to have it delivered after ordering and making payment.
“To therefore get Ese to compete, the Federation through Ese’s Club in Europe and working with a German-owned Company got a ‘Track Bike’ for our cycler Ese.”
