At the 1994 Commonwealth Games held in Victoria, Canada, Nigeria bettered its 10-medal haul in Track and Field from the 1990 Games in Auckland, taking it to 11 this time around after winning three GOLD medals in the women’s 100m, men’s Long Jump and women’s 4x100m relay respectively; four Silver and four Bronze medals. It remains Nigeria’s highest medal haul in Athletics at a single edition of the Games.
Sprint icon Mary Onyali was the country’s standout athlete at the Games where she inspired a 1-2 for Nigeria in the women’s 100m where she stormed to GOLD in an impressive time of 11.06s as Christy Opara-Thompson followed in 11.22s to claim Silver. England’s Paula Thomas placed 3rd with 11.23s.
Not done with winning the 100m, Onyali also raced to Silver in the 200m where she finished 0.10s behind Cathy Freeman who won the event with a then Games Record of 22.25s. Onyali then anchored the women’s 4x100m team comprising of Faith Idehen, Mary Tombiri and Opara-Thompson to another GOLD medal where they returned a time of 42.99s, a then Games Record, to finish ahead of Australia and England.
This was only Nigeria’s second GOLD medal in the relays in the history of the Commonwealth Games after the quartet of Lawrence Adegbehingbe, Iziaq Adeyanju, Samson Oyeledun and Ikpoto Eseme won the men’s 4x100m at the 1982 edition of the Games in Brisbane. However, the women’s 4x100m GOLD remains the country’s last medal of that colour in the relays.
Nigeria also retained the men’s Long Jump title from the previous edition of the Games as Obinna Eregbu leapt to a winning distance of 8.05m to finish ahead of Australia’s David Culbert (8.00m) and Ian James of Canada (7.93m).
Having won GOLD four years ago in Auckland, Fatimat Yusuf settled for Silver this time around in the women’s 400m where she clocked a time of 50.53s as Freeman claimed her second GOLD medal of the competition, winning the event with a then Games Record of 50.38s.
Adewale Olukoju also claimed Silver in the Discus throw (62.46m), while Chima Ugwu settled for Bronze in the men’s Shot put with his throw of 19.26m. Other Bronze medals were won by Daniel Effiong in the men’s 200m (20.40s), Sunday Bada in the men’s 400m (45.45), and Opara-Thompson in the women’s Long Jump (6.72m).
As the countdown to this year’s Commonwealth Games begins, join us for a daily highlight of some of Nigeria’s best moments at the Games, which will come to a climax on the opening day of Gold Coast 2018.
