‘Out of context’, Nigeria Sports Minister reacts to usage of borrowed bicycle at Olympics
Senator John Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development has reacted to a post by Nigerian cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye, who claimed to have borrowed a bicycle to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics
The cyclist, who made history as the first Nigerian cyclist to represent the country at the Olympic Games, revealed this in a tweet on her X account on Thursday.
The Informant247 had earlier reported how Nigerian cyclist, Ese Ukpeseraye has reportedly borrowed a bicycle from her German colleagues to compete at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
The 25-year-old, who competed in the women’s road race on August 4 but did not register a score after failing to complete the event, on Wednesday, raced in the Keirin and Sprint cycling event, finishing sixth in the first round. Later in the day, she also failed to secure qualification through the repechage.
Speaking on her experience during the race, Ukpeseraye said she was called up to participate in the second event on “short notice”.
The cyclist said she had “no bicycle to race with on the tracks”, and the German team came to her rescue.
“Due to the short notice, I had to compete at the Keirin & Sprint. I had no bicycle to race with on the tracks,” the tweet reads.
“In the spirit of sportsmanship, the German team came to my rescue by offering me a bicycle.”
However, the Minister of Sports in a statement said the issue was reported out of context. He noted that the event which the cyclist participated in was not captured in the official preparation, as she was only called for the event individually on the basis of reallocation of a slot which was vacant due to disqualification of a country.
He further said that the need for a makeshift bicycle, which was facilitated between Nigerian Cyclists Federation, Ese’s Club in Europe with a German owned Company, to get a ‘Track Bike’ for her was due to the fact that the bicycle made for the event might not be delivered on time after ordering and making payment.
The statement reads in full;
“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, that 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, a 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.
“Tomorrow the 9th of August 2024, Ese will race in an individual sprint, the race she originally qualified for,” he added.
