Olympics: 5 Nigerian-Born Olympians Who Won Medals For Other Countries

The Nigerian contingent has officially wrapped up their Paris 2024 Olympics campaign with no medals, despite the participation of 88 athletes in 12 different sports and an investment of billions of naira by the Federal Ministry of Sports.

Team Nigeria’s performance mirrored the country’s disappointing showing at the 2012 London Olympics, where the team also failed to win a medal.

The Minister of Sports, Senator John Enoh, described the team’s performance as a “disaster” and vowed to prevent a repeat of such results in the future.

Despite Nigeria not winning any medals, athletes of Nigerian descent secured medals at the Games.

Here are five athletes of Nigerian origin who won medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics.

Yemisi Ogunleye

Germany’s Yemisi Ogunleye grabbed the gold medal in the women’s shot put at the Paris Olympics on Friday, throwing her winning 20.00m with her final attempt.

With her victory, Ogunleye became the first German to win the shot put event in 28 years, since the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.

Ogunleye was born in Germany to a Nigerian father from Ekiti and a German mother.

After her win, Ogunleye acknowledged her diverse background in a video trending on social media and sang a Yoruba gospel song.

Annette Echikunwoke

Echikunwoke is the only athlete to have represented Nigeria in this list but opted to represent the United States after her disqualification at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

She missed out on competing in the hammer throw at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) failed to conduct the required drug tests for athletes.

The 28-year-old, who holds the African record in the hammer throwing event, won an Olympic silver medal in women’s hammer throw.

Commenting on the feat, Washington Post quoted her as saying, “I’m happy it’s happening now. Everything happens for a reason, even if it’s bad or good or ugly. But this is beautiful.”

Samu Omorodion

Born in Melilia, Spain, to Nigerian parents, the 20-year-old forward is set to sign for Premier League side, Chelsea, from Atletico Madrid, according to football transfer expert Fabrizio Romano.

Omorodion was part of the Spanish side that defeated host, France, 5-3 in extra time to win Olympic gold in men’s football.

He scored just once in the competition, in a 2-1 loss to Egypt in the group stage.

Salwa Eid Naser

The Nigerian-born sprinter won silver for Bahrain in the 400m women’s event at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She crossed the finish line in 48.53 seconds, trailing Marileidy Paulino of the Dominican Republic, who set a new Olympic record with a time of 48.17 seconds.

The 26-year-old formerly known as Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu was born in Onitsha, Anambra.

Michael Olise

Bayern Munich’s new signing Olise was part of the French team that won silver in men’s football.

Olise was born in England to a Nigerian father and a French-Algerian mother.

His younger brother, Richard, plays for Chelsea FC in England.

Credit: Vanguard

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