The Minister of Youth and Sports, Solomon Dalung, says the era of late preparation for the Olympics is over.

Dalung made the declaration when he met with sports journalists at the weekend in Lagos

“I am determined to ensure that we start early preparation for Tokyo 2020 by now’’, he said.

He said the ministry will revamp programmes for athletes’ discovery and nurturing which had been abandoned to enable the selection process and preparations for the Tokyo Games.

“Basically, what we did with the National Youth Games knowing that it has been abandoned for a long time and knowing it gives us the opportunity to identify talents was to revamp it.

“What we did this year was to insist and think outside the box by generating funds for sponsorship for the National Youth Games and the potential that were identified was indeed amazing.

“Also, I have come up with accuracy that by the second quarter of next year, that every federation that is interested in participating in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics must give a clear profile of athletes it identified.

“This is for training to commence for Olympics 2020 by the second quarter of next year so that we will identify those athletes we are going to use for qualifications and subsequent training in anticipation of the Olympics.

“We can no longer go for the Olympics with only one year or six months preparation. It must be complete six years or three at minimum,’’ he said.

Speaking further, he said, “Anybody willing to participate must be identified by second quarter of 2017, and a well defined programme put in place to avoid low performances during the outing.”

Oludolapo Adelana

Dolapo is a writer and journalist who works with YNaija. He has interests in Christianity, politics and sports.