Sports minister Solomon Dalung has commended the national gymnastics team for making the country proud at Regional African Gymnastics Championship in South Africa.
Nigeria won two gold and nine bronze at the competition.
Dalung, who is in London for the 2017 World Athletics Championships, congratulated the young gymnasts.
“The victory recorded by these young athletes in gymnastics has shown that there’s no short cut to building our sports back to limelight,” the minister was quoted as saying in a statement by his media aide Nneka Anibeze on Thursday.
“These children who won 11 medals in South Africa are below 18 years. The coach has promised that he is building some of these youngsters for the 2020 Olympics and I’m sure that by then, these children would be matured and ready for bigger challenges ahead.”
Dalung added, “Most of our elite athletes are fading out of the scene. No matter how long we try to mask it, it will be impossible to cheat nature.
“No matter how good an athlete is when he clocks 30, the law of diminishing returns will start setting in. So in such a situation, a replacement plan should be embarked upon in earnest.”
“The emergence of Ivory Coast and South Africa in the 100m and 200m recently cannot be far-fetched from their grassroots programmes for the future.”
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