"After that, other African countries started believing that it's achievable," adds Okocha, noting Cameroon won football gold in the next Games in Australia.
"It was a gold medal for Africans," argues West. In a sign of its continent-wide significance, three other African countries also declared national holidays. Military rule eventually ended in 1999, after Abacha's death the previous year.įollowing the Olympics triumph, Nigeria held a two-day public holiday. "But the team made the world forget that they had issue(s) with Nigeria," says ex-striker Daniel Amokachi, who later became a successful coach. The country was under international sanctions at the time, while it did not compete in the 1996 Africa Cup of Nations - prior to the Olympics - following criticism of its human rights record by hosts South Africa. "Politically we were in a mess, reputation-wise we were in a mess, but that changed a lot of people's view about Nigeria," he says.
"We needed heroes and football gave us heroes," recounts lawyer Ed Keazor.įor attacking midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha, who like many of that generation later cemented his reputation at football clubs in Europe, the 1996 Olympics gave the country "hope that something good can come out of a bad situation".
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