Nigeria made her first Olympic appearance in 1952 in Helsinki, Finland, and the country has participated in every Summer Olympic Games (except for the boycotted 1976 Olympics) ever since.
Nojim Maiyegun
A total of 25 medals have been won by Nigerians at the Olympics with our nation’s first by veteran boxer Nojim Maiyegun, who won Bronze in the Men’s light middleweight event. Only three Gold medals, however, have been won by the nation so far.
Forty-four years after the country made its debut at the Olympics, two groups at the 1996 Olympic Games would go on to place Nigeria amongst proud countries who have distinguished themselves with the highest honor from an Olympic event.
Chioma Ajunwa
Ace track and field athlete during her heyday, Chioma Ajunwa, put Nigeria on the Gold medal-map as she also became the very first West-African woman to win an Olympic Gold medal in a track and field event with a jump of 7.12 meters in her first attempt during the final of the women’s long jump event at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta.
Prior to this time, in 1992, Chioma was involved in a drug test scandal that saw the Nigerian face a four year ban from the sport, despite maintaining her innocence. This did not deter the Naija Sprint Queen, who on completion of her suspension, shook the world with her Gold medal victory, paving the way for the next set of Nigerians that brought world football to its knees before them.
The success of Nigeria’s Under-23 men’s football team aka Dream Team, at the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta took the spotlight away from Chioma’s major win. The Dream Team dominated world football against the likes of Brazil and Argentina to become the first African country to win an olympic Gold medal in football, a win that earned Nigeria global respect in the game.
Sydney 2000
Nigeria’s third and last Gold medal was won at the Sydney 2000 Summer Olympics in the men’s 4x400m event. It would take another 8 years before the nation was formally awarded the medal by the IOC.
This win was consequent on the eventual disqualification of Team USA, after the late Antonio Pettigrew revealed he was on performance enhancing drugs between 1997 and 2003, leaving Nigeria’s 4x400m quartet, Clement Chukwu, Jude Monye, Enefiok Udo-Obong, and the late Sunday Bada to be crowned Olympic Gold medalists.
