Senator John Owan Enoh, the Minister of Sports Development, has clarified the situation regarding Nigerian cyclist Ese Ukpeseraye's use of a borrowed bicycle from the German cycling team for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. This clarification follows a social media post by Ese, which sparked significant discussion and misunderstanding.
On August 8, Ese Ukpeseraye shared on X that, due to a last-minute opportunity to compete, she had to borrow a bicycle from her German competitor, Bund Deutscher Radfahrer. She participated in the Keirin and Sprint events on August 7 but did not advance beyond the preliminary rounds, finishing in sixth place.
Senator Enoh explained that the Nigerian government had not planned for Ese to compete in these additional events initially. The Federal Government had no provision to purchase a bicycle specifically for this circumstance. The situation arose because another country was disqualified, creating an unexpected opening for Nigeria to participate in the track cycling events.
According to Enoh, acquiring a specialized track bike on short notice was impractical due to the time required for delivery. Such bikes, approved specifically for Olympic events, typically take months to be ordered and delivered. Consequently, the Nigerian Federation, through Ese’s European club and in collaboration with a German company, secured a track bike for Ese to use in the competition.
Senator Enoh addressed the confusion surrounding Ese Ukpeseraye’s post, stating:
“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.
Ab initio, 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.”
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