Nigeria competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, from 27 July to 12 August 2012. This was the nation's fifteenth appearance at the Olympics. Nigeria missed the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal because of the African boycott. The Nigerian Olympic Committee sent the nation's smallest delegation to the Games since 1984. A total of 53 athletes, 30 men and 23 women, competed in 8 sports. Men's basketball was the only team-based sport in which Nigeria was represented at these Olympic Games. Among the eight sports played by the athletes, Nigeria marked its official Olympic debut in slalom canoeing.