They are men and women who have graced the scene before the
likes of Blessing Okagbare came on board. They have done Nigeria proud at
different sporting events, all champions in their own rights. They put Nigeria
on the world’s sporting maps, sadly however, the country hardly remembers them
or their exploits. The sad death of Sam
Okwaraji on the field and the attitude his family got after was all it took for
many to conclude that in Nigeria, heroes die unsung.
Some died brokenhearted, some are alive and sad they ever
represented Nigeria while some would have done things differently if they could
turn back the hands of time.
In this piece, WOLE
ADEJUMO takes a look into the feats and lives of some of the stars that set
the tracks on fire for Nigeria years back.
Chidi Imoh
Between 1984 and 1985, not only did Imoh reign as the
fastest man in Nigeria, he was the African champion. His 10.00 seconds was the
world’s best in 1986 and the following year, he won the All Africa Games gold
in 1987. He took the world by storm when he finished in 9.92 seconds and that
remained his personal best. The time was however adjudged “wind assisted” and
thus not entered as the world record then.
At the 1986 Goodwill Games in Moscow, Chidi Imoh won the
silver medal, trailing behind Ben Johnson and finishing ahead of Carl Lewis. He
capped his career with a silver medal in the 4x100 event of the Barcelona
Olympics in 1992 with Davidson Ezinwa, Kayode Oluyemi and Olapade Adeniken as
other members of the quartet.
Imoh is enjoying his retirement in the United States, where
he spends time coaching young Nigerian-American athletes.
Olapade Adeniken
Describe Olapade Adeniken as one of the best sprinters
Nigeria ever produced and you won’t be wrong. He specialized in the 100m and
200m races. He was a member of the silver-winning team at the Barcelona
Olympics in 1992.
With the “wind assisted” controversy that trailed Imoh’s
9.92 seconds record, Adeniken is recognized as the first Nigerian to finish the
100m under 10 seconds, thanks to his 9.95 seconds in El Paso in 1994. That feat
placed him third best in Nigeria, behind Davidson Ezinwa and Olusoji Fasuba,
whose personal bests are 9.94 and 9.85 respectively.
Some still remember his brawl with Namibian sprint star, Frankie
Fredericks which saw him running at the 1992 Olympics with a plastered eye.
Davidson & Osmond
Ezinwa
Born on November 22, 1971, the Ezinwa twins started their
life as sportsmen by playing soccer. They didn’t get into national prominence
until they got invited to run at the 1987 National Sports Festival. Though they
were not track athletes, they outran everyone else.
In 1992, Davidson ran 9.91 seconds in Azusa Pacific
University to break Adeniken’s 9.97seconds record which was set a week earlier.
Osmond too was no pushover as an
athlete. Together with Davidson, Olapade Adeniken and Francis
Obikwelu, he won a silver medal at the 4x100 metres relay race at the World
Athletics Championships in Athens in 1997.
Chioma Ajunwa Opara
Chioma Ajunwa, a police
officer is Nigeria’s first Olympic gold medalist. Till date, she is Nigeria’s
only individual gold medalist, a feat she achieved at the 1996 Olympics in
Atlanta with a 7.12 metre jump in the final of the long jump event.
Not many know that Ajunwa
was a footballer, as a matter of fact; she was a member of The Falcons,
Nigeria’s female national team at the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1991.
She made marks at the
African championships and All Africa Games in 1989 and 1991 respectively,
competing in the 100m, 200m and long jump events. Her career however took a
temporary setback after failing a drug test in 1992.
Though Ajunwa was given
the Member of the Niger (MON) national
honour, no monetary reward came her way, unlike members of the Dream
Team who won the soccer gold at the 1996 Olympic Games.
Sunday Bada
Bada, a respectable
policeman and sportsman died as one of Nigeria’s unsung heroes. He was a master
as far as the 400 meters was concerned. His gold medal at the World Indoor
Championships in 1997 is a testimony of what he was capable of doing.
He announced his
readiness for exploits with bronze medals in the 200 and 400 metres events at
the 1990 African Championships. He followed these with a silver at the
400meters in the All African Games the following year. He was Nigeria’s
400metres champion for seven consecutive years, 1990 to 1997. He reclaimed the
crown in 2001.
Returning in 45.51
seconds, he holds the African indoor record. The Olympic Gold in Sydney in 2000
was the peak of his career.
He died in the National
Stadium, serving as the Technical Adviser of the Athletics Federation of
Nigeria in 2011.
Deji Aliu
He is one of the sprinters younger Nigerians would know.
Aliu announced his arrival with his status as a member of the quartet that won
4x100 metres relay bronze at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics. Though
the team was later disqualified and the medal withdrawn after Innocent Asonze,
a member of the team failed a doping test.
His 4th placement in the 100 metre race at the
2002 Commonwealth Games; which he followed with the gold at the All Africa
Games the following year were some of his exploits. His personal best in the
100m dash was 9.95, a feat he achieved in 2003. He was also at the 2004
Olympics in Athens where he won bronze.
Yusuf Ali
Yusuf Ali, a retired long jumper and two time Olympian was
the African Long Jump champion and he won the long jump gold at the
Commonwealth Games in 1990. Apart from representing Nigeria at the Los Angeles
Olympics in 1984, Ali won silver at the African Championship in Morocco and the
All Africa Games in Kenya, the same year.
Though his performance at the Seoul Olympics in 1988 was
without a medal, he confirmed his supremacy in Africa at the African Championships
by winning the gold in Annaba, Algeria. He repeated the feat in 1989 at the
next edition of the championship in Lagos, jumping 8.27 m to set the Nigerian
record. He followed with the
Commonwealth gold the following year. He was second best at the All Africa
Games in 1991.
He is the Technical Director of the Athletics Federation of
Nigeria.
Innocent Egbunike
It won’t be wrong to
describe Innocent Egunike as one of the most popular athletes Nigeria ever
produces. He was a member of the bronze winning 4x400 metres team at the Los
Angeles Olympics in 1984.
1985 was a particularly good year for Egbunike, who still
holds the school record at the Azusa Pacific University as he won the Summer
Universiade. He followed that with the All Africa Games gold as well as three
medals at the Africa Championships.
Egbunike served as coach of Nigeria’s track and field teams
to the Olympic Games in 1996 and 2000. In 2008, he coached Angelo Taylor who
won the 400m Hurdles gold at the Olympics as well as Chris Brown who finished 4th
in the 400m race.
Dele Udoh
Dele Udoh is a name only the older generation might
remember. He is perhaps one of the earliest known victims of police extra
judicial killings in Nigeria.
Though based in the United States, he hailed from Ozu Abam
in Arochukwu Local Government Area of the present day Abia State. Since 1979,
he had been described as Nigeria’s greatest medal prospect at the Olympics and
World Championships.
Udoh returned home in 1981 with his wife and son to prepare
for a competition with Nigeria’s athletics team. He was shot dead at a police
check point around Ojuelegba. In a swift move, his body was displayed as that
of an armed robber with the police allegedly planting wraps of Indian hemp in
the booth of his car. He was however later identified as a national athlete.
The funeral service held in his honour was shown live on
national television back then. Sadly, he was forgotten shortly after.
Endurance Ojokolo
At a point, she was Nigeria and indeed Africa’s 100m champion.
Her list of achievements include the gold at the gold at the 4x100 relay at the
African Championship in Dakar in 1998 as well as a silver in the 100m. She won
the bronze medal in the 100m event at the All Africa Games in South Africa the
following year while she was part of Nigeria’s bronze winning 4x100m team.
Her 11.15 seconds time won her the 100m gold at the African
Championship in 2002, a feat she followed up with a bronze at the World Cup in
Spain. She also won a bronze in the 4x100m. The next two years were
particularly good for her as she claimed the 100m silver at the All Africa
Games in Abuja 2003 as well as gold in the 4x100m and the Afro-Asian Games in
India.
In 2004, she won gold at both the 100m and 4x100m of the
African Championship held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She was also part of
Nigeria’s gold winning quartet in the 4x100m at the African Championship in
2008.
Ojokolo, who turned 41 recently is currently a coach in Port
Harcourt, Rivers State.
Falilat Ogunkoya-Omotayo
Ogunkoya,
fondly referred to as Nigeria’s ‘Queen of the Tracks’, the Ode Lemo, Ogun
State born athlete retired after a glorious career of 20 years. She has a number of national championships to
her credit, including a gold medal in 1996 in the 400 metres, gold in the 200
metres and 400 m in 1998, and gold again in 1999 and 2001 in the 400 m.
At the 1987 All Africa Games in Kenya, she won the silver
medal in the 200 m. In 1995 at the Zimbabwe Games she won the silver in
the 400 m, and at the 1999 Games in South Africa, she won a gold medal in
the 400 m.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics she won a bronze medal in
the 400 m ,
behind Marie
Jose-Perec of France and Cathy Freeman of Australia, in a
personal best and African record of 49.10, which is currently the
twelfth fastest of all time.
Her
marriage to her trainer, Tony Osheku made the news back then. Sadly, it hit the
rocks two years after it was contracted. She runs the Falilat Ogunkoya Sports
Foundation through which she discovers and encourages young athletes.
Christy Opara
She made
a mark at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 where she and her teammates, Mary
Onyali, Beatrice Utondu and Faith Idehen won the Bronze medal in the 4x100
meters.
The
Commonwealth Games, held in Victoria, Canada in 1994 was a particularly good
one for her. She won silver and bronze in the 100m and long jump events
respectively while she caped it up with the 4x100m gold.
Okpara, who
retired due to recurrent injuries in 2004 is the proprietor of Soho 24 Sports
Garden, Abuja.
Fatimah Yusuf
One of
the best female quarter milers Nigeria ever produced. Fatimah has the record of
being the first African woman to run 400m under 50 seconds. She finished in
49.43 seconds at the African Championship in 1995. As a 20-year-old in 1991,
she won the 400m gold as well as the 200m silver at the All Africa Games.
Yusuf,
Falilat Ogunkoya, Charity Opara and Bisi Afolabi won the silver medal in the
1996 Olympics 4x400m coming behind the United States.
Like
Egunike and the Ezinwa brothers, she attended Asuza Pacific University and
presently works as a fitness coach in the US.
Francis Obikwelu
Onitsha-born
Francis Obiora Obikwelu won quite a number of laurels for Nigeria in the days
he carried a green passport. Such included the 100 and 200metres gold at the
World Junior
Though
he was based in Portugal, Obikwelu didn’t take the decision to run for his
adopted country until he was neglected by Nigerian sports officials following
an injury he sustained while representing Nigeria in Sydney.
Since he
started in 2000, he has done well for Portugal winning lots of laurels in the
process, including the 2004 Olympic Games silver. His 9.86 is the European
record. It has been tied twice, but not beaten.
Oluyemi Kayode
Most of
today’s Internet users may know very little or nothing about Oluyemi Kayode. He
was a member of the silver winning 4x100 team at the Barcelona Olympics in
1992.
He won
the 200m silver medal at the 1993 African Championships and was the Nigerian
200m champion in 1993 and 1994.
He died
in a car crash on October 1, 1994 in Northern Arizona.
The
stadium in Ado Ekiti was named in his honour. That seems to be the only thing
that still keeps his memory alive.
Mary Onyali
She is
no doubt one of the best female sprinters that graced the tracks in Nigeria. 1994
Commonwealth 100m champion, Mary Onyali won medals at two consecutive Olympic
Games; bronze in the 4x100m at Barcelona in 1992 and the 200m silver in Atlanta
’96.
She had
7 individual medals to her credit at the All Africa Games between 1987 and
2003.
She
became known as Mary Onyali-Omagbemi in 2000 following her marriage to fellow
sprinter, Victor Omagbemi. She has the record of appearing at five consecutive
Olympic Games, from 1988 to 2004, a feat equaled by Bose Kaffo, and surpassed
only by table tennis star, Segun Toriola.
She is
an adviser to the National Sports Commission.
Abass Mohammed
He is
perhaps to Nigeria what Gabrielle Selassie is to Ethiopia. For more than 10
years, he was Nigeria’s national marathon champion.
Abass, a
soldier, disclosed that he quit when he did because the sport was lacking
sponsors and gradually became less interesting.
He made
a comeback years ago when he competed at the Obudu Mountain race and the Lagos
City Marathon earlier in the year.
Ibrahim Musa
Musa, a gold medalist at the All Africa Games
in Abuja in 2003 was the captain of Nigeria’s cycling team at the games. His
career was however cut short at a police check point on the Lokoja – Okene road
as he was shot dead while on his way to Kaduna to shop for his wedding in
November 2003.
Beatrice Utondu
She was
a member of the Barcelona 4x100 team that won silver in 1992. Before then, she
won the 1987 All Africa Games long jump gold.
Utondu
also became the African champion in 1993.
Mercy Nku
Mercy
Nku announced her arrival with the 1999
Unlike
her peers, Gloria Alozie and Francis Obikwelu who dumped Nigeria for Portugal,
Nku chose to stay a Nigerian; those certain authorities in the administration
of sports made her regret the decision later.
Emmanuel Ifeajuna
Children
born in the 1980s might never have heard of Ifeajuna, the first Nigerian and
Black African to win a gold medal at an international sports event,
After
the 1954 feat, Ifeajuna enrolled for a degree at the University of Ibadan and
taught for some time after school only to join the army in 1960. He rose to
become a brigade Major in Lagos, a position he held till the January 1966 coup,
in which he was one of the arrowheads.
His
vilification began shortly after the failure of the coup and he escaped to
Ghana. He however returned during the Nigerian Civil War to fight on the side
of Biafra.
While
trying to negotiate a ceasefire with the Nigerian government, he was accused of
treason and tried. On the orders of Col. Odumegwu Ojukwu, on September 25,
1967, Ifeajuna, along with Victor Banjo, Philip Alale and Sam Agbam were
executed publicly by firing squad.
The only
posthumous honour he received was that his picture was used on the front cover
of students’ notebooks decades ago.
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