Nigeria soccer victory

Aug. 4, 1996, was my happiest day in Jakarta. Nigeria, my motherland, won the gold medal for soccer at the Atlanta Olympics. This is the first time in history that the Olympic soccer gold medal was won by Africans amid domination by European and Latin American countries.

Our victory over Argentina in the final match was a surprise, because the West portrays us as jungle people, poor and hungry. If we are defeated by non-African teams, it is no surprise because we are from the jungle. If we win, it becomes a big surprise for our rivals who are prone to ask: "How can jungle people defeat us? How can black people emerge victorious?"

A good example of this fact is the awful behavior of some soccer extremists in Brazil who threw explosives at the Nigerian embassy in Brasilia to give vent to their anger over Brazil's defeat to Nigeria in the semi-finals.

As long as other people continue to look down upon us, God willing, more shocks are on the way. One should not forget that the West African state of Cameroon reached the quarter-finals in the 1990 world cup soccer competition and that George Weah of Liberia was elected the best footballer on earth for 1995.

In athletics East Africans, mainly Kenyans and Ethiopians, have booked numerous successes over the years.

I just heard that some developing countries now send their people to Africa in the name of tourism but the real aim is to discover the secret of our success in sports.

BUHARI ABDU

South Jakarta