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| Bonfrère Jo being lifted up by the players after the feat |
Johannes “Bonfrère” Jo, the coach who led Nigeria’s Dream Team to Olympic football gold in Atlanta 1996, says he has still not received any reward or official recognition from the Nigerian government for that historic achievement.
In an interview with The Punch, the 80-year-old Dutch tactician expressed disappointment that, three decades after guiding Nigeria to become the first African nation to win Olympic football gold, his contribution has gone largely unacknowledged, despite many members of the squad receiving national honours, houses and cash rewards.
“They were claiming that everyone has received their rewards, but I have not received anything; they have never given me the reward for winning the gold medal,” Bonfrère said.
He added, “Even my gold medal was stolen from me, and I still didn’t get a reward from the government, which all the players have received, including players who were not on the list.”
Bonfrère also recounted losing the Olympic gold medal awarded to him after Nigeria’s famous triumph over Argentina in the final, calling it one of the most painful moments of his career.
“I don’t know how the medal was collected from me; I only know that when the players went upstairs, an official stopped me from going with them and the medal was gone,” he said.
The former coach said he has made repeated attempts over the years to seek recognition from the relevant authorities but has received little response
“I will be happy if something can be done because I have made several calls and sent messages but nobody was interested in helping me,” he said.
Bonfrère orchestrated one of Nigeria’s finest sporting moments at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, guiding a star-studded Dream Team, featuring Nwankwo Kanu, Austin Okocha, Daniel Amokachi, Taribo West, Celestine Babayaro, Garba Lawal and Emmanuel Amuneke etc, to a dramatic run that included a 4-3 semi-final win over Brazil and a come-from-behind 3-2 victory against Argentina in the final.
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