Nigeria in Olympic Hall of Fame
Numerous Nigerian athletes have made the country proud but not only by participating in various Olympic games but has also won several medals and awards from gold to silver and bronze. Some of these Nigerian athletes includes but is not limited to;
Mary Onyali-Omagbemi
Mary Onyali-Omagbemi has been one of Nigeria’s prominent names in the history of Olympic Games, she was born in the year 1968 on the 3rd of February, and she is married to Victor Omagbemi who was also a onetime Nigerian sprinter.
She was famous for winning a bronze medal for Nigeria in the 1992 Olympic Games on a 4 x 100m relay, and also in 1996 Olympic Games on 200m. In Commonwealth Games in the year 1994, she won a title in the women’s 100 metres as well.
Some of her other notable achievements include winning a bronze medal in the All African Games in the year 1987, a gold medal in the 1991on 100m, she also won in the year 1995 and 2003. She won bronze medals in 1987, 1995 and 2003 on women’s 200m all in the All African Games championship, and not leaving behind their winning in the 4 × 100 m relay between the year 1987 and 2003.
She featured in 1988 to 2004 Olympic Games making her the first ever Nigerian to have made appearance consecutively in the Olympics five times.
Chioma Ajunwa
Chioma was born as Chioma Ajunwa-Opara on the 25th of December 1970 in Umuihiokwu Imo State, she is a Nigerian former athlete who centres more in the long jump and later became an officer with the Nigerian Police Force.
Chioma is the last child in a family of 9 comprising of six brothers and two sisters, she is a member of Committee on the Revival of the Nigeria Academic Sports Competition and also the Chairperson of the women’s Development Committee of Imo State Football Association. She was awarded with a national award by the Head of state of Nigeria Sani Abacha as a Member of the Order of Niger (MON).
She features as a track and field athlete and centres in the 100m, 200m, and long jump, she participated at the 1990 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay and competed at the African Championships in 1989 and the year 1991 in All Africa Games winning gold medals in the long jump.
Ajunwa was the first Nigerian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta featuring in Track & Field event as she scaled height in the women’s long jump with a jump of 7.12 meters in the final heat.
Atlanta'96 Football Team
The Nigerian Under-23 male football team, also known as the (Dream Team), which represented Nigeria at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia, USA won a gold medal in football and the team are as follows: Abiodun Obafemi, Augustine Okocha, Celestine Babayaro, Daniel Amokachi, Emmanuel Amuneke, Emmanuel Babayaro,Garba Lawal, Joseph Dosu, Nwankwo Kanu, Kingsley Obiekwu, Mobi Obaraku, Uche Mbamaonyeukwu, Sunday Oliseh,Taribo West, Teslim Fatusi, Tijani Babangida, Victor Ikpeba, and Wilson Oruma.
Blessing Okagbare
Blessing has been one of the outstanding track and field athletes the country has; she majors in long jumps and also short sprints and has participated in numerous field and track activities for Nigeria which she emerged winning most of the times.
She was born in Sapele, one of the major towns in Delta State on the 9th of October 1988, prior to her involvement in the field and track sports, she was into the sports of football though as a teenager, she started from playing in college but later switched to track and field in the year 2004.
Dating from her school days, she has featured in the triple jump, high jump and even long jump representing the school in various championships which she broke records of winning a medal in each.
She is talented in her field and has won so many medals for Nigeria since she started representing them, she won a Silver medal in the long jump at the 2007 All-African Games and finished 4th in the triple jump. She won a bronze medal in the women’s long jump at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympic Games. Blessing scored a 100 m/long jump double at the NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the University of Texas. She won the Nigerian 100m title in 2010, with a running time of 11.04 seconds.
In the African Championship games held in 2010, she participated in the long jump where she won a gold medal and in the year 2011, she emerged 5th in the 100m race finals at 11.12 seconds, she also participated in the long jump but didn’t qualify for the finals with her 6.36 m jump.
Also, in the year 2010, she participated in the All Africa Games which was held in Maputo, Mozambique but came out better as she won three medals in the championship.
She also featured in the 100 metres Commonwealth Games and she came out as the fastest with a record of 10.79 seconds, she remained the African record holder until 2016 when Murielle Ahoure, an Ivorian sprinter broke the records with a lesser second.
In the African Championships held in the year 2012 in Porto Novo, she emerged as the winner, winning new continental medals, the same year she won a medal in Nigerian Championship held in Calabar at 6.97m in the long jump.
She also won a Silver medal in Long jump and a bronze medal in 200m race in the 2013 World Championships. She won two Gold medals in 100m and 200m jump coupled with Silver and bronze medals in the respective 4 x 100m at the 2014 Commonwealth games.
Blessing Okagbare participated in Rio Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in the year 2016 but failed to win a medal, although she didn’t make it to the final, she was ranked 3rd at 11.09s in the semifinal 100m finishing and ranked 8th in 4 x 100m relay finals with her teammates.
Anthony Konyegwachie
He was born in the year 1965 on the 26th of November, he hails from Ogwashi-Uku Delta State, Nigeria but was born and brought up in Lagos State. He is well known as a former Nigerian boxer who made the country proud in men’s (54-57 kg) featherweight winning a silver medal which made him the first ever Nigeria athlete to win a silver at the 1984 Summer Olympic Games which was held Los Angeles, California USA.
Two years after participating in the Olympics, he trained himself to become a professional boxer thereby winning 15 fights but stopped and later retired after he was defeated by a journeyman in the year 1990.
Chidi Imoh
Is a former Nigerian sprinter born 27 August 1963, prior to his fame he was running for the University of Missouri in Columbia where he made outstanding records of 19.9s on 200m outdoor, finished at 10.00s on 100m outdoor race and at 6.10s on 55m outdoor race.
He won the Nigerian Olympic silver medal in the 4 x 100m relay at the 1992 Summer Olympic in Barcelona. He became African Champion in the year 1984 and 1985 after winning 60m bronze medal at the 1991 World Championships. He obtained a gold medal in the 100m race at the 1986 Goodwill Games Moscow and also won the 100m race in the 1987 All-Africa Games.
Innocent Egbunike
A former Nigeria Sprinter born on November 30, 1961, he graduated from Azusa Pacific University holding a record in 400m race, and he has made other achievements such as winning a bronze medal in 4 x 400m relay in the 1984 Summer Olympic Game Los Angeles.
Innocent Egbunike later became a coach after retiring from competition as he led the sprinter team on the 1996 and 2000 Olympics respectively and also as their head coach for the track and field team in 2008 Olympics Games.
Damola Osayomi
Damola is a Nigerian sprinter born on June 26, 1986 in IIesha, Osun State, she featured mainly in the 100m and 200m race. She graduated from the University of Texas at El Paso where she read business administration.
She won an Olympic silver medal representing Nigeria in the 4 x 100m relay at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she has also claimed 4 gold medals at the African Championships Athletics and emerged victorious at the 2007 All-Africa Games featuring in 100 and 200m sprints.
Osayemi won the women’s 100m race at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in New DeIhi, but was denied of her gold medal after confirming positive to methylhexanamine in the World Anti-Doping day.
Christy Udoh
Christy was born in 30th of September, 1991 and is a Nigerian professional female sprinter who competed for Nigeria in the Women’s 200 meters, 4 x 100-meter relay at the 2012 Summer Olympics held in London, United Kingdom.
Gloria Asumnu
A Nigerian female sprinter born on May 22, 1985, in Houston, Texas USA. She is one of the foremost runners in Alief Elsik High School where she completed her secondary education and Tulane University. She formerly represented the United State in international competitions before she changed direction to represent her home country.
She represented Nigeria at the 2011 All-Africa Games at Maputo, Mozambique winning a Gold medal in the 4 x 100m and a bronze in the 100m event. She also competed for Nigeria at the 2012 African Championships in Porto Novo, Benin winning three gold medals 100m, 200m and 4 x 100m relay event.
She competed for Nigeria at the 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil featuring in 4 x 100m relay event placing 8th in the competition.
Offiong Edem
Edem is a Nigerian Female table tennis player born on 31 December 1986 in Calabar Nigeria. She represented Nigeria at the 2004 Summer Olympic in Athens, Greece and 2012 Summer Olympics in London. Edem has recorded a total of 5 gold medals, 2 silver medals and one bronze medal since she started representing Nigeria in Table Tennis tournament.
Jonathan Akinyemi
A Nigerian slalom canoeist born on 22nd of November 1988 in Warrington, England where he was born and brought up but first visited Nigeria in 2008. Akinyemi is the first Nigerian to compete in the canoeing event at the Olympics Games. He competed at 2012 Summer Olympics in the K1 event, finishing 21st in the heats, which made him not to qualify for the semifinals.
Akinyemi also competed at the 2015 African Canoe Slalom Championship in Sagana, Kenya where he made a top finish which qualified him as Nigeria’s only canoeist to 2016 Summer Olympic held in Rio de Janeiro finishing 20th in the men’s K-1 event.
Olufunke Oshonaike
Represented Nigeria in Table Tennis at the 2016 Summer Olympics games which were held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; she was born in the year 1975 on the 28th of October.
Her career in table tennis started from the street where she engaged herself in table tennis activities at her leisure, she was born and brought up in Akeju, Shomolu Lagos and attended Community Primary School which was later renamed Ola-Olu Primary School, located in Agunbiade still in Shomolu. Her engagement also in the sports activities in her school has gained her awards as she has won a competition for the school and was honoured accordingly.
She went to Igbobi Girls High School, Igbobi Yaba and later focused on her dream to be one of the best table tennis players in Nigeria. She was opportune to compete in the Olympics in the women’s single division which was held in Rio de Janeiro where she defeated Mariana Sahakian of Lebanon in the preliminary round but was later defeated by Puerto Rican table tennis player by name - Adriana Diaz.
Nigeria Bobsledding and Skeleton Team
Nigeria has also be recorded and recognized as the first black African country to have participated in the 2018 Winter Olympic Games which was held in February in PyeongChang, South Korea. Nigeria was represented in the sports of bobsledding and skeleton by Nigerian Born Ngozi Onwumere, Seun Adigun, Akuoma Omeoga (all three as bobsledding team) and Simidele Adeagbo (skeleton sports) based in the USA and Canada respectively. They have made the country proud and have aimed to make the game of bobsledding and skeleton prominent in Nigeria.
