Representing one’s country at the Olympics is the dream of any athlete! As the countdown to the Tokyo Games commences, several athletes are on course to make their first Olympics. We featured some of them in Part I of our story on Athletes vying for their first Olympics. We now take a look at Part II, featuring athletes that could also debut at the Games, based on their projection or World Athletics rankings.
5. Chidi Okezie
Event: 400m
Personal Best (PB): 45.61s
Season’s Best (SB):
Olympic Standard: 44.90s
Highest ever World Ranking: 53
Current World Ranking: 54
Since Chidi Okezie completed his four-year program in the NCAA competing for Hampton University, he has risen steadily through the ranks, establishing himself as Nigeria’s finest quarter-miler and one of the most consistent on the African continent.
In his first year running as a pro – 2016 – which happens to be the last time the Olympics was staged, he dipped under 46s for the first time with a 45.65s clocking in his season opener in New York.
Okezie was soon selected to compete for the nation at the Durban 2016 African Championships in South Africa. At the biennial event, he finished 2nd in both his heat and semifinal and went all out to claim his first international medal, taking Bronze in a time of 45.76s, behind the Botswana duo of Baboloki Thebe (44.70s) and Karabo Sibanda (45.40s). He closed out the year with a 2nd place finish in his first national 400m final in Sapele.
His notable performances in 2017, were running a slightly windy 20.68s to win the men’s 200m at the New York USATF National Club Championships and also winning the men’s 400m at Blue Marlin Classic in Bahamas.
With the 2018 season rolled out early, he ran at the Birmingham 2018 World Indoor Championships where he made it to the semifinals and then competed at the Commonwealth Games, also making it to the semis as he ran a Season’s Best (SB) of 45.84s in qualification.
Later that year, he would equal his Personal Best (PB) in finishing 2nd at the Cayman Invitational at the Cayman Islands, win a Bronze in the men’s 400m at the African Championships in Asaba and a Silver medal at the Continental Cup in Ostrava as a member of the African mixed 4x400m quartet, teaming up with Caster Semenya (RSA), Baboloki Thebe (BOT) and Christine Botlogetswe (BOT).
Still on his trajectory, he ran a 200m PB of 20.81s in 2019, won all of his outdoor 400m races on the circuit and was again chosen to don the country’s colours at the African Games in Rabat over his specialist event where he won his heat, placed 2nd in the semi and then improved on his PB with a 45.61s run to claim the Bronze medal.
Due to the break in his 2020 season, he didn’t run the 400m outdoors but he did get to run indoors with a time of 46.63s to show for it. He is currently Nigeria’s best placed quarter-miler on the World Athletics rankings and is looking forward to making his Olympics debut.
4. Chioma Onyekwere
Event: Discus Throw
Personal Best (PB): 61.38m
Season’s Best (SB): 59.99m
Olympic Standard: 63.50m
Highest ever World Ranking: 16
Current World Ranking: 16
Just after her final season competing in the NCAA, Chioma Onyekwere first donned the colours of Nigeria at the 2016 African Championships in Durban where she clutched two Bronze medals, in the women’s Shot Put and her customary event, the Discus Throw.
On to 2018, she had a fine season on the circuit, placing Top 3 in four of her five meets, before being selected to compete at the African Athletics Championships in Asaba.
There, she proved her mettle against the best Discus throwers in Africa as she sent out her implement to a Personal Best (PB) of 58.09 to strike GOLD ahead of her compatriot and National Record (NR) holder, Chinwe Okoro (57.37m) and Ischke Senekal (53.82m), upping her performance from her first appearance at the Championships.
Onyekwere surpassed 60m for the first time in her career at the Throws U Last Chance Meet 1, landing a big PB of 60.75m to win the event, a mark enough to qualify her for the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha.
Through the course of the season, she again surpassed 60m at the CVEATC Meet in Chula Vista, reaching 60.33m and also went on to take GOLD at the African Games in Rabat.
She finally made her World Championships bow in Doha where she threw another PB of 61.38m in her heat, just missing the final by a spot as she finished 7th in her heat and 13th overall. Her throw was also 20cm shy of the National Record.
In 2020, she won all of the three meets she competed in and will look forward to more outings this year so as to surpass the Olympic standard for the event, set at 63.50m.
3. Jerry Jakpa
Event: 200m
Personal Best (PB): 20.59s
Season’s Best (SB): 20.94s
Olympic Standard: 20.24s
Highest ever World Ranking: 47
Current World Ranking: 50
Over the last few years, Jerry Jakpa has transformed nicely into one of Nigeria’s finest sprinters on the home turf and nonetheless, one of her strongest Olympic hopefuls.
He rose to prominence on the national scene in 2017, first winning a Bronze medal in the men’s 100m at the National U-20 Championships in Abuja, followed up with another 3rd place finish in a very exciting men’s 200m final at the National Senior Championships a month after.
In 2018, he built upon his performance from the previous year with a slightly wind-aided but noteworthy 10.25s in the men’s 100m at the MoC Grand Prix in Lagos. He soon made his debut for Nigeria at the African Athletics Championships in Asaba where he smashed his 200m Personal Best (PB), running under 21s for the first time in his career with a 20.87s clocking and bowed out of the event in the semis where he placed 5th.
He closed off the year with a 100m PB of 10.32s at the National Sports Festival (NSF), narrowly missing out on a medal in 4th place.
At the beginning of the 2019 season, Jakpa represented MoC Track Club at the Gaborone International Meet in Botswana and ran in the 100m/200m, eventually setting a PB of 20.84s to finish 2nd in the latter. A few days later, he made his second appearance for Nigeria, this time around at the World Relays in Yokohama, where he was a part of the quartet that raced to a National Record of 1:22.08 in the men’s 4x200m.
The following month, Jakpa stormed to a PB of 20.59s to win the men’s 200m final at the National Open Trials for the African Games held in Abuja. He would go on to replicate those times while running at the Citius Meet in Berne and La Chaux de fonds, both in Switzerland where he ended his season.
Even though most of 2020 was disrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Jakpa after an exhausting break from competition, got to compete at a leg of the World Athletics Continental Cup – the Kip Keino Classic in Kenya where he raced to an SB of 20.71s to finish 4th.
He got his 2021 outdoor campaign off at the Akure All-Comers meet with a 20.94s run, his fastest opener ever and looks good for what is to be an exciting Track season.
2. Edose Ibadin
Event: 800m
Personal Best (PB): 1:44.81
Season’s Best (SB):
Olympic Standard: 1:45.20
Highest ever World Ranking: 54
Current World Ranking: 100
In 2016, Edose Ibadin’s first year out of the NCAA where he represented the Hampton Pirates, he broke the 1:47 mark for the first time in the 800m, recording a Personal Best (PB) of 1:46.31 at the US Olympic Trials.
He would go on to improve his time, equalling the National Record (NR) of 1:45.91 set by Ado Maude since 1992 to kick off the 2017 season.
In his fourth race of the season at the Nashville Music City Dance Carnival, he broke the tie for the NR as he went even quicker, turning in 1:45.87 to qualify for the 2017 World Championships. He made his debut at the biennial event, running the heats and finishing in 1:46.51.
He ran a 400m PB of 46.96s in 2018 and broke the NR again at the site at which he broke the previous mark – the Nashville Music City Dance Carnival and with the same placement, 2nd position with a time of 1:45.69.
One would think he would take a break from setting and breaking his own records over the middle distance race but Nashville has done him really well as he smashed it again at the Carnival’s staging in 2019, returning a PB of 1:45.60.
He made it all the way to the semifinal of his event at the 2019 African Games in Rabat and having run a 400m best of 46.67s in July, ran as a member of the 4x400m quartet that won Bronze in 3:03.42 before drawing the curtains on the season at the World Championships in Doha, competing in the heats of the men’s 800m.
Unable to compete for most of 2020, Ibadin did get to run at all three Time Trials organized by the Under Armour District Track Club. He comfortably won the first two, but at the third, he smashed his lifetime best, powering to a huge National Record (NR) of 1:44.81.
It was a time that would ultimately have qualified him for the Olympics in Tokyo, but for the qualification window that was temporarily suspended for the whole year, except in December. Ibadin will now look forward to beating the qualification standard of 1:45.20 again through the course of the 2021 season, before the window closes.
- Favour Ofili
Event: 400m
Personal Best (PB): 51.51s
Season’s Best (SB):
Olympic Standard: 51.35s
Highest ever World Ranking: 37
Current World Ranking: 38
In two years, Favour Ofili has carved a niche for herself on the homefront of sprinting in Nigeria and it is no surprise that she is our no. 1 athlete vying for a spot to the Olympics.
Ofili began to make a name for herself after storming to victory in the Girls’ 400m at the 2018 African Youth Games with a Personal Best (PB) of 53.57s, successfully taking about 5s off her PB within the space of a year and later went on to represent the country at the Youth Olympic Games.
In 2019, she got the year started with victory in the women’s 200m at the National U20/U18 Championships in Ilaro, before securing the 200m/400m double at the African Youth Championships, running Championship Records of 23.38s at 200m and 52.28s over 400m, performances that earned her the accolade of ‘Most Outstanding Female Athlete’ of the Championship.
Back in Nigeria, she posted a PB of 23.24s at the African Games Trials to win the women’s 200m, the 2nd fastest by a Nigerian for the whole year. The stage was then set up for an exciting duel with multiple National Champion Patience Okon-George for the 400m title at the Nigerian Athletics Championships in Kaduna.
At the end of the day, experience prevailed over youth but Ofili left there with yet another PB of 51.90s. With the Doha 2019 World Championships in view, she went into the African Games with the hope of qualifying and delivered as after winning her heat and semifinal races, she ran a PB of 51.68s to claim Silver, beating the standard set by World Athletics.
Ofili made her debut at the World Championships, bowing out in the semifinals, but not without running a PB of 51.51s in the heats.
Now on a Track scholarship with the LSU Tigers, the Nigerian who is only 0.16s shy of the Olympic qualification mark, is well positioned to make her first trip to the Olympics.
