From record-breaking performances to historic firsts, Nigerian athletes put the country firmly on the map of international sports and in this two-part series, we explore the standout moments and milestones that made 2024 a year to remember for Nigerian Athletics.
Part 1 of the story for moments 10-6 can be found here.
5. Nigeria qualifying for 4 Olympic Relays
The World Athletics Relays for the first time since inception, served as Olympic qualifiers for all five official relays at the Olympic Games, which this year took place in the city of Paris.
Nigeria presented four relay teams, and all four teams qualified for the Games, making it the first time since 2004 that the country would have four relay teams at the quadrennial event.
On the first day, Nigeria kicked off their campaign in exciting fashion as they punched the Olympic ticket in the mixed 4x400m relay with the quartet of Samuel Ogazi, Ella Onojuvwevwo, Chidi Okezie, and Esther Elo Joseph. In quick succession, the men’s 4x400m quartet of Dubem Nwachukwu, Dubem Amene, Sikiru Adeyemi and Chidi Okezie put up a stellar performance, clocking a time of 3:01.70, the team’s fastest time in 20 years, to secure qualification for the Olympics!
While both the women’s and men’s 4x100m teams missed qualification on Day 1 of the World Relays, they took another stab at a chance of running at the Olympics in the repechage rounds. Both teams qualified, the men securing Nigeria’s first men’s 4x100m Olympic ticket in 16 years!
The only Nigerian team that didn’t feature at the World Relays was the women’s 4x400m – an event where Nigeria always had strong representation. Nigeria was unable to present a team at the World Relays, which eventually missed out on qualification, following the qualification of 14 teams per event in Nassau and the allocation of the remaining two places for Paris in each discipline based on time.
4. Chidi Okezie becoming the first Nigerian man to win the African Games 400m title since 1987
Chidi Okezie stormed to victory in the men’s 400m at the African Games in Ghana, securing GOLD and becoming the first Nigerian man to claim the title since the legendary Innocent Egbunike in 1987. This triumph was a major milestone for Okezie, who had previously won four Bronze medals at the continental level, dating back to his debut at the 2016 African Athletics Championships in Durban.
Okezie’s historic win came with a Personal Best (PB) of 45.06s, a significant improvement from his previous PB of 45.60s set in 2021. He would go on to run another PB of 44.97s, earning his qualification for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
3. Nigerian Long Jump trio qualifying for Olympic final in Paris
The Long Jump trio of Ese Brume, Prestina Ochonogor and Ruth Usoro became the first Nigerian trio to make an Olympic final in an individual event at the Paris 2024 Olympics! The last time Nigeria had more than one athlete in an Athletics Olympic final was as far back as 1996 when Falilat Ogunkoya and Fatimat Yusuf both made the women’s 400m final in Atlanta.
Brume, as she has for the last decade, finished highest in the placings in 5th place. She won a Bronze medal at the previous edition of the Olympics in Tokyo.
2. Favour Ofili becoming the first Nigerian woman in an Olympic 200m final since 1996
Favour Ofili made history by becoming the first Nigerian woman in 28 years to qualify for the final of the women’s 200m at an Olympic Games. The last Nigerian to reach the women’s 200m final was Mary Onyali, who won a Bronze medal at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
She was one of just two Nigerian athletes who made the final of a track event in Paris and the only woman to do so.
1. Samuel Ogazi being the fastest Nigerian quartermiler in 36 years
Samuel Ogazi ran the fastest 400m by a Nigerian athlete since Innocent Egbunike did in 1988 when he ran a PB of 44.58s in May. He would better this performance five more times as the season progressed, markedly making him the most improved Nigerian athlete in 2024.
He took this up a notch when he eventually made the Olympic final after racing to a new lifetime best of 44.41s in the semis, which made him the first Nigerian male to accomplish that feat in 36 years!
