The Gateway Games 2024 came to an end rather ‘suddenly’. To many people, and according to initial pre-games expectations, the 22nd National Sports Festival was to end on Friday, May 30th. That’s why, coming one day before, on Thursday, May 29th, caught many by some surprise.
However, Thursday became important because it fell on a day that is significant to the host State. It was the 6th anniversary of the current government, and also the 65th anniversary of the date of birth of the Governor of the host State.
Coincidence or by design, it made absolute sense for the Games to ride with the circumstances and organise a superb climax to a Games that is being considered by many as ‘the best edition of the National Sports Festival ever’.
Of course, that claim is both arguable and contentious. It would depend on who is expressing it and what aspects of the festival they are referring to as ‘best’.
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Without question though, ‘Gateway Games 2024’ will go down as a showpiece, one re-establishing the essence and significance of the biggest sporting event in Nigeria, established in 1973 and still sustained as a unifying tool for the youths of the country.
Gateway Games 2024 has been a success by all ramifications. From the opening to the closing ceremonies it looked good optically, particularly for television; it went relatively smoothly, devoid of controversies and crisis; it was a memorable experience for the athletes, they matter the most in this whole enterprise.
The facilities for the games were new and modern; the venues were good and functional; the general organisation ran well, mostly on auto-pilot, aided by the tranquil nature, liberalism, accommodation, friendliness, hospitality and cultural sophistication of the people of Ogun State.
The athletes were mostly camped in one place. That created the atmosphere and ambience to bring the over 10,000 athletes from different parts of the country together. This integration was the original motivation for establishing this bi-annual festival – to promote peace, friendship and unity amongst the youths of the country.
The format for the events also brought out some meaningful athletic performances reflecting the discovery of new young talents for a new Elite Athletes Development project of the National Sports Commission. This is a transition phase for the development of the athletes in a program designed to take them to the highest levels where they can represent Nigeria in international competitions.
The facilities used during the games are first class, reducing the incidences of manipulation, and ensuring the integrity of results. At the end of the Games, for the first time in a long while, even muted complaints about overall results (something that marred the image of several past festivals) were absent. Every race, every contest, was fairly won and lost on the tracks, fields, courts and in the halls.
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Beyond the technical sports events, the people of Ogun confirmed their place as a mature and civilized people. The game ran almost organically, not because there were any stringent controls, but purely because it is in the nature and genes of the Ogun State people to welcome strangers, to live peacefully in their safe environment, to conduct themselves decently in the presence of strangers with their simple lifestyle of endless celebration.
Security personnel were almost invisible in this whole project. They were just observing and hardly interfering, throughout. That kind of conduct in Nigeria is almost unheard of, but it happened during the Gateway Games.
I hear from the grapevine that there were security operatives planted in strategic places, working silently behind the scenes to ensure such an atmosphere. We will never know!
The reality is that at most venues, despite the throng of spectators, no instances of hooliganism, indecent conduct, and public disorder were heard of. Also, although fees were not charged for any events, during all the games, including football, matches went on without crisis.
Beyond the technical side of things, the social events around and after the games were truly special. The MKO Abiola Arena was the epicenter. It presented a new and previously unseen dimension to the games – outlines of a sports-economy beyond the usual sponsorships and marketing of the festival itself.
Night after night, the Arena turns into a bristling market, assuming a life of its own. No mention of sport takes place here. Everything but sport is available as business. Even the small ‘red-light’ areas of Abeokuta became deserts. The girls must have moved into the Arena to do their thing. This place at night operated without any athletes. It was a different world.
I had two roles to play at the festival. I was an observer as well as an Ambassador for Ogun State. All I have written above are as an Ambassador.
The following represent my other observations looking at the games through the prism of an Olympian.
There were a few things to highlight for posterity.
Asa
This is the Nigerian female international singer. She performed at the opening ceremony of the Gateway Games.
Her rendition of the National Anthem was the best I have ever heard. She sang from the depths of her soul, every word of the anthem coming alive, with her guitar strumming along and lifting the song to a spiritual dimension.
The match past of the athletes during the opening ceremony was done to the pulsating Rythm of Afrobeats music (not military music). It was a first in the world. The athletes moved and danced in a happy mood before any events even took place. That may have positively impacted the mood of the rest of the festival. It was beautiful to behold.
It was repeated at the closing ceremony also. A new culture may have been introduced to Sport.
The unlit Games Torch
The opening ceremony mostly escaped serious scrutiny by the media. I am not sure if any media reported that the Games’ Torch meant to burn throughout the festival was not ceremonially lit.
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Throughout the festival, it remained unlit and idle, lifeless like paintings on a wall. During the closing ceremony, a small glowing flame, could be seen above one of the two gas chambers installed for that purpose. It seemed like the torch itself was ‘protesting’ its poor treatment by omission from the Festival.
The burning Torch is an important part of the Sports Festival, deriving its significance from the practice at the Olympics were the flames represent peace, friendship and unity of humanity. Lighting the torch is a sacred practice, performed only by worthy athletes that have made significant contribution to sport.
Ogun State had the ceremony lined up for the opening ceremony. For some reason it never happened. It was a major flaw that could have added beauty and glamour to the games.
Lighting the Games torch is a sacred ‘ritual’ that is carried out by persons recognized for their place in sporting history.
At the Paris 2024 Olympics, for example, one of the most memorable moments of the Olympics was the torch being carried by Serena Williams, and Rafael Nadal.
The Olympic Games of Atlanta is remembered mostly for the torch that was lit by late boxer, Mohammed Ali. That was his last act in front of a global audience.
Although, in Abeokuta, the flames came up on the day of the closing ceremony, their weak glow was a silent protest by the elements that it was all ‘too little, too late’.
My best moment of the Games took place during the opening ceremony.
It was a transfiguration of a man. He has worked hard. He slept little. He drove everybody. But it all came down to 5 minutes of brilliance.
It was about how he walked to the podium with supreme confidence; how he read a speech that must be documented for the quality of its content; how he read that speech deliberately and clearly, every word loaded with belief; how he conquered a subject he did not like originally, and a territory he was not familiar with only a few weeks before.
As he rounded off his speech he raised both hands in supplication to the gods of sport on Mount Olympus and invoked the spirit of his ancestor to come over to the Gateway Games.
That picture of him is my ‘best picture of the Gateway Games’.
If there is any doubt about the conspiracy of the elements in this whole Gateway Games, how does one explain the coincidence in the closing ceremony coinciding with the 6th anniversary of his Government, and the 65th anniversary of the day of the birth of the Governor? It is an event of destiny!
That’s why, on behalf of all Nigerian athletes and all citizens of Ogun State, I wish Dr. Prince Dapo Abiodun, CON, Happy Birthday and congratulations for hosting one of the best Games in the history of the National Sports Festival.
He is my man of Gateway Games 2024.
