Team Nigeria finish second as 2023 African Games end

The curtains have fallen on the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana with Team Nigeria finishing second behind perennial champions, Egypt.

Of the 54 countries in Africa, 53 were in attendance, with only Cape Verde absent from the 13th edition of the Games which kicked off on March 8, 2024.

Team Nigeria had won 120 medals comprising of 47 gold, 33 silver and 40 bronze won across 25 sports according to medals table as at the time of press to finish second for the sixth time.

South Africa are in third place with 32 gold, 32 silver and 41 bronze. Algeria, Tunisia, hosts Ghana, Morocco, Mauritius, Ethiopia and Kenya complete the top 10 spots in that order.

Team Nigeria had gone to Ghana with a total of 358 athletes, with athletics having the highest number of athletes representing Nigeria, with 50 individuals, followed by football with 40 people. Hockey and Volleyball have 32 and 24 athletes, respectively.

Arm wrestling has 15 athletes, while Taekwondo, wrestling and karate each have 14 representatives.

Weightlifting and badminton have 12-member teams, while boxing has 11 pugilists, judo 10, and scrabble has eight members.

Meanwhile, Nigeria finished top in the final medal standing in athletics after winning total of 21 medals – 11 gold, six silver and four bronze.

It was the country’s fourth best-ever performance in the history of the African Games and it is the 11th time Nigeria will finish first in athletics.

The likes of Tobi Amusan, Ese Brume and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi retained their titles in the women’s 100m hurdles, women’s long jump and men’s shot-put events, respectively.

In the men’s 400m, Chidi Okezie made history as the first Nigerian to win gold in the event in 37 years.

The likes of Ruth Usoro, Pamela Obiageri, and Amaechi Chinecherem Nnamdi, also won gold in their different events.

Nigeria achieved her best-ever performance in the athletics event at the African Games in 1995 when the athletes won total of 32 medals made up of 15 gold, nine silver and eight bronze.