The Nigerian women’s national basketball team was turned away from the opening ceremony of the 2024 Olympic Games, the Associated Press reported on Friday.
The team, known colloquially as D’Tigress, had travelled over two hours from Lille, France to Paris for the procession. An anonymous source told the AP that, upon arrival, D’Tigress were denied access to their boat by an official of the Nigeria Olympic Committee. The official stated that there was no more room on the boat, which Nigeria was sharing with Niger and Norway.
The team tried to return to Lille, where the women’s basketball group play games will take place, but were unable to make it to the departing busses. D’Tigress stayed the night in Paris and missed their morning practice session. As Nigerian representatives have not commented on the situation, no more information is available at this time.
Sadly, Friday’s mishap is reflective of ongoing issues plaguing Nigerian basketball. The Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) and Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) have earned poor reputations in recent years. In preparations for these Olympics, institutional conflict within Nigerian basketball has once again begun to rear its ugly head. Queen John-Moseph, the communications manager of Basketball Africa League team Rivers Hoopers, took to X (formerly Twitter) to accuse the NOC and NBBF of mishandling recent Olympic preparations:
Our D’Tigress deserve better!!!
Our athletes and players deserve better. We can’t keep treating our own like they don’t matter.
No wonder there was little or no media attention around the team. What are we hiding? Media is part of sports we all depend on each other. And even… pic.twitter.com/M6uxq9EwNP
— Queen John-Moseph (@Queenjohn4) July 23, 2024
D’Tigress played two European friendlies before arriving in France; one against Germany in Saarbrücken, and one against Serbia in Belgrade. John-Moseph claimed that D’Tigress were not provided enough funds (either by the NBBF or NOC) to purchase a connecting flight from Saarbrücken to Berlin. The team therefore had to drive eight hours across Germany to Berlin in order to fly to Serbia. John-Moseph additionally claimed that accommodation was poor during the team’s stay in Germany.
Former NBA player Chimezie Metu voiced his own disdain for the federation days before the opening ceremony. Metu competed for the Nigerian men’s team in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, and has since echoed similar sentiments regarding disorganization and corruption within the NBBF. Metu claimed that during the 2020 Olympics, the NOC and NBBF had more members living in the Olympic Village than Nigeria had athletes competing in the games. Following the boat situation on Friday, he reiterated his grievances and accused the NOC and NBBF of continuously embarrassing Nigerian athletes:
The NOC and NBBF continue to take every opportunity to embarrass our athletes. Every year it’s something new, this one might take the cake. Qualify and travel all the way to the Olympics just for this to happen. Have some shame please https://t.co/mj1Z3lXRdd
— Chimezie Metu™ (@Chimezie_Metu) July 26, 2024
Failures of the Nigerian Basketball Federation cost D’Tigress a spot in the FIBA World Cup two years ago. In 2021, FIBA threatened to ban Nigeria from international basketball competition due to internal election conflict. The elections for leadership positions within all Nigerian sports federations were held on Sept. 30, 2021, but the NBBF failed to vote amidst an ongoing power dispute. The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports Development contacted FIBA officials, claiming that they would assume the duties of the NBBF. FIBA disallowed the ministry from doing so, citing numerous regulations that their assumption of power would break:
FIBA General Statutes Article 9.1: “National member federations must maintain full control and governance of basketball in their country, including without limitation control over their national competitions.”
FIBA General Statutes Article 9.7: “National member federations shall manage their affairs independently and with no influence from third parties. In particular, they must ensure that their officials are either elected or appointed under a democratic process…”
Hoping that a hiatus would prevent further damage, the Federal Government of Nigeria imposed their own two-year ban on the NBBF before FIBA could take action. The government received significant pushback, reversing the ban only six weeks later. However, D’Tigress had already been forced to forfeit their spot in the 2022 FIBA World Cup, which they had earned through winning the African Championship. The African Championship runner-up, Mali, replaced Nigeria in the tournament. The Nigerian men’s basketball team was able to participate in the second phase of World Cup Qualifiers and was therefore unaffected.
The 2024 Olympics, although already proving to be a battleground between Nigerian basketball players and their governing institutions, will be an opportunity for D’Tigress to compete on the world stage after forfeiting their berth in the 2022 World Cup.
