The words of our elders, they say, are words of wisdom. And anyone who hearkens to it is expected to make hay in whatever profitable venture he or she is involved in. I can’t but always remember the sayings of one of the greatest, if not the greatest commentator ever to come out of Nigeria, late Ernest Okonkwo.

He was a delight to listen to anytime he was behind the microphone, especially when running commentaries during football matches involving the Super Eagles. He felt uneasy one afternoon at the Lagos National Stadium in Surulere when the Super Eagles were playing a game and the fans just sat down, quiet, making it look like their team were playing on an away ground.

That was when he coined the famous cliche, if you cheer before a goal is scored, you are motivating an action but if you cheer after a goal, you are only reacting to an impulse. That is the problem we have in Nigeria, we, the people, corporate bodies and governments at various levels always react to situations but never care about motivating actions. That is why we are not bothered about preparations but only waiting for results to come from the blues before rolling out the drums to celebrate victories.

We talked so much about our lack of preparations for the last Paris Olympics and the reason(s) we didn’t win medals. Without knowing the level of our athletes, the government threw a lot of money on the team, as if the medals at stake could be bought with money. When you put the cart before the horse, the result to expect can never be movement but stagnation because it is the action of the horse that will motivate the cart into motion.

Four weeks after the Paris Olympics ended, nothing has been heard again about the embarrassing outcome after the shouts of disappointment from Nigerians and cry of sabotage by the Sports Development Minister, Senator John Enoh. This gives credence to the assertion of the president of the Nigeria Wrestling Federation, Dr. Daniel Igali that after two weeks, the noise about the Olympics failure will die down. He has been proved right.

With his ‘tears’ yet to dry, Senator Enoh who couldn’t vouch for the preparedness of the Paralympics athletes, again announced a mouth-watering reward for medallists at the Paris Paralympics which ends today. Fifteen thousand dollars was promised for each gold medal, with silver and bronze medals fetching the winner $10,000 and $5,000 respectively. Nigerians who never cared how the athletes prepared for the Games started expressing confidence in their ability to always wipe shame from our faces and even started counting the number of medals expected from them.

Only the Para athletes themselves and their coaches who are never recognized and motivated as always, knew their chances and without much noise, left for Paris without much fanfare. Unlike the Olympics when Nigerians temporarily forgot the economic hardship and looked towards it for succour, their minds were tuned off from the Paralympics to the harsh policies of government which bring them more pains than hope every day.

So when Team Nigeria recorded her first medal at the Games through Mariam Eniola Bolaji, whose bronze medal turned out to be the first medal in Badminton by any African in the history of the Olympics and Paralympics, Nigerians were happy that at least, the country’s name will be listed on the medal table. The feat guarantees her a $5,000 reward from the government. After Bolaji, another athlete Esther Nworgu, took it a step further by winning a silver in the 41kg powerlifting event, losing narrowly to a Chinese opponent.

What made her feat remarkable is that she competed with a dislocated injury against medical advice. For her gallantry, a $10,000 reward awaits her. The biggest of the feat came on Friday also in the powerlifting event, Nigeria’s strongest point in the Paralympics through Onyinyechi Mark in the 61kg category. She not only won the gold but broke the world record twice. She first improved on the record by lifting 147kg and further pushed it to 150kg, a feat that elicited ear to ear grin from the sports minister.

An elated Senator Enoh who may not have recovered from the bashings he got after the Paris Olympics flop took to his X handle to tweet his happiness thus: “Congratulations Onyinyechi Mark! Today, you hoisted the flag of our great nation at the ongoing Paralympics, having won Nigeria’s first gold medal at the ongoing Paralympics. Not only did you lift 147kg to break the Paralympics record and win a gold medal, but you took a challenge given to you and lifted 150kg to set a new world record. Bravo!!”.

“You have brought immense pride and joy to Nigerians, you have built a momentum which makes a worthy statement of the resilient Nigerian spirit. We are so proud of you, the Government and sports loving people of Nigeria celebrate you our champ! Thank you for doing it for self and for country.” This gold medal ensured that Nigeria’s old/new National Anthem was sang in Paris, wiping away the shame that was our lot at the Paris Olympics earlier.

Like her name Onyinyechi shows, she isn’t only a gift from God to her parents but a blessing from God to Nigeria in the midst of sad stories from a land so blessed by God but mismanaged by her citizens. And she left a Mark that will be remembered for a long time. A golden Mark indeed. Just as I was ending this piece, the Super Eagles returned to winning ways with caretaker coach, Austin Eguavoen. It is the wish of football loving Nigerians that the sweet victory should be replicated on Tuesday against Rwanda and other teams in the race to the 2025 AFCON finals in Morocco.