Mikel John Obi has hinted that he would want to make another appearance at the Olympic Games in four years when the Japanese city Tokyo plays hosts to the World.
The Chelsea midfielder, one of two senior players in the Nigeria Under-23 squad that won bronze in the men's football event at the Games in Rio de Janeiro, opened up that he "enjoyed every minute of being in Brazil" and is already relishing the prospect of featuring at the next Olympics despite knowing that he would be 33 by then.
"This experience has given me the hunger to do it again at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. I will be only 33 then and my game will still be at a high level.
"I enjoyed every minute of being in Brazil and I have been talking to the other guys about playing in another Olympics. I'm already looking forward to it and the countdown is on!" Mikel wrote in his column for Evening Standard on Monday.
The 29-year-old is also proud of being an Olympic medal winner and took time to relive how the Nigerian squad achieved the feat in the losers' final against Honduras.
The Nigerian captain also intends to show off his Olympic medal when he returns to his club, Chelsea, this week.
"When I woke up in my hotel room on Sunday morning, I opened my eyes to see my Olympic bronze medal lying there beside me. It just hammered home to me what I had achieved with the rest of my Nigeria team-mates the day before. We beat Honduras 3-2 to get the bronze and secure Nigeria's first Olympics medal in any sport since 2008.
"All of us went into the game knowing this and it put extra pressure on the squad to perform. The team actually played very well for the most part. We controlled the game, I created three goals to put us 3-0 up and it was all very comfortable. But we conceded two late on and all of a sudden it looked like everything was going downhill. They made us sweat a bit and we were relieved to come out victorious," Mikel stated.
Mikel, however, disclosed that his target before travelling to Brazil "was the gold medal. But to get the bronze is still an amazing achievement."
The Chelsea man featured in all of Nigeria's six matches at the Olympic Games, playing an average of 88 minutes per game.
"This experience has given me the hunger to do it again at the Olympics in Tokyo in 2020. I will be only 33 then and my game will still be at a high level.
"I enjoyed every minute of being in Brazil and I have been talking to the other guys about playing in another Olympics. I'm already looking forward to it and the countdown is on!" Mikel wrote in his column for Evening Standard on Monday.
The 29-year-old is also proud of being an Olympic medal winner and took time to relive how the Nigerian squad achieved the feat in the losers' final against Honduras.
The Nigerian captain also intends to show off his Olympic medal when he returns to his club, Chelsea, this week.
"When I woke up in my hotel room on Sunday morning, I opened my eyes to see my Olympic bronze medal lying there beside me. It just hammered home to me what I had achieved with the rest of my Nigeria team-mates the day before. We beat Honduras 3-2 to get the bronze and secure Nigeria's first Olympics medal in any sport since 2008.
"All of us went into the game knowing this and it put extra pressure on the squad to perform. The team actually played very well for the most part. We controlled the game, I created three goals to put us 3-0 up and it was all very comfortable. But we conceded two late on and all of a sudden it looked like everything was going downhill. They made us sweat a bit and we were relieved to come out victorious," Mikel stated.
Mikel, however, disclosed that his target before travelling to Brazil "was the gold medal. But to get the bronze is still an amazing achievement."
The Chelsea man featured in all of Nigeria's six matches at the Olympic Games, playing an average of 88 minutes per game.
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