Who are Nigeria’s Best Olympians?

Nigeria have enjoyed some special moments at the Olympic Games. The first time a Nigerian athlete won a medal at the Olympic Games was Tokyo 1964 when Nojim Maiyegun won bronze in the men’s light middleweight boxing. Many Nigerians used that success as inspiration to compete but who are Nigeria’s best Olympians?

Chioma Ajunwa

At the time of writing, Chioma Ajunwa stands as the only Nigerian to win an individual Olympic gold medal. She claimed her gold at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in the long jump. Ajunwa also became the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event. Not only has Ajunwa competed and won gold at the Olympics as a track and field athlete but she also represented Nigeria at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. In addition to winning gold at Atlanta in 1996, Ajunwa won the silver medal at the 1997 Paris World Indoor Championships and bronze at the 1990 Auckland Commonwealth Games as part of the Nigerian 4x100metres relay team. The 100 metres events are the most popular at the Olympic Games and great for betting as the runners progress through each round of the competition. Following her gold medal in Atlanta, Ajunwa was awarded the Member of the Order of Niger.

Mary Onyali-Omagbemi

Another of Nigerian’s best Olympians enjoyed success at the 1996 Atlanta games and Mary Onyali-Omagbemi won the bronze medal in the 200 metres. That was not her only bronze medal at the Olympics and Omagbemi won her first bronze at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics, finishing third as part of the Nigerian 4×100 metre relay team. Some of Omagbemi’s other notable achievements include two gold medals and one silver medal at the 1994 Victoria Commonwealth Games plus a silver and bronze at the 1986 Athens World Junior Championships. In addition to her two Olympic medals, Omagbemi was the first Nigerian to appear at five Olympic Games.

Blessing Okagbare

Blessing Okagbare enjoyed a long and successful career in athletics, tasting success at the World Championships, Commonwealth Games, African Championships, All-African Championships, and Olympic Games. In fact, the first medal of Okagbare’s career came at the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the long jump. Okagbare was only 19 years old when she finished second in the event and the Nigerian jumped a personal best of 6.91 to finish ahead of Jamaican, Chelsea Hammond. In addition to winning the silver medal in Beijing, Okagbare won long jump silver at the 2013 Moscow World Championships plus gold in the 100 and 200 metres at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games.

Men’s 4×400 Metre Relay Team

We conclude our list of Nigeria’s best Olympians with not one but four athletes. The Nigerian men’s 4×400 metre relay team won the gold medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games. The United States team won the event but were later disqualified and that saw the Nigerian team promoted from silver to gold. Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Sunday Bada, and Enefiok Udo-Obong were the four men who raced in the final and they finished with a time of 2:58.68, which was an African record.