Athletics
Nigeria’s Onyekwere proves her power, in and out of the throws circle
BY MADELINE RYAN
“I am strong,” Chioma Onyekwere says before she steps into the ring. “I am powerful. I am explosive.”
It’s an affirmation for Onyekwere to prepare herself mentally during each performance. But there’s truth to it, too.
The 29-year-old Nigerian discus thrower demonstrated her strength when she broke the African record earlier this season with a 64.96m throw that surpassed the qualification standard for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in August.
Onyekwere has led a relentless career: as well as her area discus record she is a two-time African champion and last year she became the first Nigerian woman to win a discus title at the Commonwealth Games.
Beyond athletics, Onyekwere possesses a talent for mechanical engineering, which was her field of study in college. Moments not spent training for international competition are dedicated to her full-time work as an automotive engineer at Ford Motors.
But while her abilities in the circle stand out, her determination and leadership also warrants attention.
Two years ago, a lost opportunity lowered her hopes to the point of almost quitting the sport. But today, she speaks confidence into each attempt and sets an example for younger throwers.
“I can do this,” she says to herself now when she shakes out before competition. “And I’m capable of much more.”
Chioma Onyekwere competes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha (© Getty Images)
Questioning everything
In 2021, Onyekwere was supposed to have her year of domination. She set a PB that season, opening up the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Olympics in Tokyo. It would be her first Olympics.
She says it felt like she was really on her way to achieving her dreams.
But she arrived in Tokyo to discover that the unthinkable had happened – she and some of her fellow Nigerian athletes were ruled ineligible to compete because the Nigerian Federation had not met the minimum drug-testing requirements for 10 of its athletes.
Classed as a “Category A” country by the Athletics Integrity Unit, Nigeria was required to ensure that at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests were conducted on each of its athletes, no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to the Olympics.
Onyekwere returned home to Michigan feeling consumed by grief so heavy, she considered never throwing again.
“It was definitely a time to stop and just question everything,” Onyekwere says.
But as she reflected, she realised that she wanted control over her own throwing career.
“I love throwing,” she adds. “And I wouldn’t want to stop this just because something else was in play and prevented me from moving forward. I would like to end it on my own terms.”
Her re-commitment to the sport was more of a process than an immediate shift. The first time she stepped foot in the ring again after a two-month break, she broke down and “started bawling.”
“I had so much anxiety about coming back to track and field, and so much anxiety about competing in general,” she says.
She spent time rediscovering what she loved so much about athletics. A self-proclaimed “math person” at heart, Onyekwere dove into the data of her progress. She keeps a journal where she records each distance, each mistake and each adjustment.
She tracks her training schedule compared to competitions or rest days, then compiles all of this data into spreadsheets she can look back on.
“I like numbers. Numbers don’t lie. And it brings out my geeky side a little bit,” Onyekwere adds with a laugh.
In addition to quantitative data, she also keeps notes on her emotions and thoughts during each throw. Tension and stress lead to messy throws. But when she’s calm and having fun, everything clicks.
She says her affirmations about strength and power are an essential part of her routine to combat in-the-ring anxiety.
“I have to calm my spirit and calm myself down before entering the circle,” she says. “And then I just get after it.”
You can have it all
Onyekwere shifted her priorities when she entered her new era as an athlete. She now wants to support the dreams of the next generation of throwers – the dreams she has for herself are a way to show them what’s possible.
She started sharing videos of her throws on social media as a resource for younger throwers.
“It’s such an honour, and it’s so sweet, to be a role model for the throwers out there. That’s one of the things that just makes you want to keep going,” Onyekwere says.
Just a few hours before competing at the Oklahoma Throws Series meeting in April, a coach approached Onyekwere at the track.
“Hey, I have this young African American girl that I coach, and she’s just so inspired by you,” Onyekwere remembers him saying. “And she really looks up to you.”
That was exactly the encouragement Onyekwere needed. At that meeting, she accomplished one of her biggest career goals when she broke the African record – previously left untouched for 16 years – with a 64.96m throw.
She realised that her accomplishments have an audience. Young throwers, and specifically female throwers, were watching to see what she’d do next.
“I’m hoping to inspire lots of young girls pursuing throwing, or to pursue anything they’re interested in. I want to tell them, ‘You can really do it all,’” Onyekwere says. “‘You can have it all.’”
She’ll be the first to say that she wasn’t the strongest thrower in college. While competing for the University of Maryland, it took her a while to break out of the 40-metre range.
But as she transitioned into her professional throwing career – while also working as a full-time engineer throughout the week – she saw rapid improvement.
Onyekwere won her first senior African Championships title in 2018, only a couple of years into the professional landscape. She then competed at the World Championships in Doha in 2019, and broke the Nigerian record in 2021 as a qualifier for the Olympics. She successfully defended her African title in 2022.
Her performance at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 didn’t go as she had hoped when she didn’t make it through to the final, finishing with a mark of 57.87m.
But she came back strong later that season to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
So, what’s next for Onyekwere? She’s continuing to work full time at Ford Motors. Her area record-breaking throw was more than enough to qualify her for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where she’ll be chasing more improvements and hopefully more records. And she has her sights set on the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Most importantly, she wants her accomplishments to be a testament to the power of African women.
“I’ve said it before, but I really want to put Africa on the map and show that we’re a force to reckon with,” Onyekwere says. “We’re capable enough to have a seat at the table. And to do great things.”
–World Athletics
BY DANLADI BAKO
Sports and indeed global athletics have been the cynosure of quite a huge community of track and field afficionados in the last nine days at the Tokyo World Athletics finals.
The global athletics fraternity congregates annually to celebrate new world beaters and champions.
Athletes spend a large amount of time, energy and resources to train, attracting the best coaches and utilizing some of the high impact facilities in developing qualifying times for their individual events.
So many nations facilitate the upscaling and upgrading of their athletes’ mentality, physique and performance standing through investments in the training and welfare of their high-profile athletes by providing grants, scholarships and appreciable reward systems.
These have been in short supply in Nigeria and indeed within the developing world where the priorities of most governments are education, health, poverty and so many other development challenges.
However, the benefits of investing in sports are unquantifiable especially on the world global diplomatic stage, unassailable visibility and an incredible reputation unachievable in so many other areas of human existence. In the eighties and 90s the Americans literally ruled the sprints with female 100 meters legend Florence Griffiths – Joyner and 400 meters world champion Michael Johnson.
Just like America used the movies to show Americans as the world best, sportsmen like basketball’s Michael Jordan and boxing’s Muhammad Ali put America on the pinnacle of human capacity for endurance, determination, strategic planning and near perfect execution.
America might have the size and population above 200 million so it’s success can be expected, however Jamaica an island of 150 miles by 50 miles has gone beyond exporting Reggae’s global icons like Bob Marley and Alton Ellis to producing 100 meters legends Usain Bolt, Sherry Ann Fraser-Price and Marlene Ottey thereby winning international recognition and inevitable public reckoning far beyond most African countries.
Now a land locked southern African sub-continent country Botswana with less than the population of Lagos State just on Sunday won the 4 x 400 men’s relay gold at the Tokyo 2025 games even after picking a few other medals through individual athletes Tebogo et al.
The Tokyo games have come and gone with Tobi Amusan putting Nigeria on the medals table with her 100 meters Silver medal. Ajayi’s efforts in the 100 meters men’s final was also commendable.
For me the highest point was the super- human diminutive Kenyan Faith Kipyegon in the 1500 metres clinching gold and 5000 metres silver.
Another great spectacle was the exploits of American idol Noah Lyle who anchored the last leg of the 4 x100 metres gold winning quartet.
Lyle won the 200 metres gold as well becoming one of the audaciuos and eye-catching supreme athletes of Tokyo 2025. Mention must be made of Sweden’s Armand Mondo who broke the pole vault world record thrice in two days.
So when and how would Nigeria get to these towering heights of conquering the world?
The fact is that we once had Olympic and World Athletics finalists like Innocent Egbunike (400m) , Chidi Imo (100 and 200m), Yusuf Alli (Long jump) and Falilat Ogunkoya (400m) although it was the American University collegiate structure that groomed them to become world beaters with little or no input from the home government.
Once in a long while a training grant of $50,000 gets handed to them in preparation for Olympic games to pay their coaches and for utilizing training facilities abroad. Even Ezekiel Nathaniel and Oyinkansola Ajayi are still beneficiaries of the American University collegiate structure.
The aforementioned names who also schooled and trained in the United States are still very much around especially Yusuf Alli, Falilat and Mary Onyali.
The authorities need to device the appropriate strategies to achieve podium standings in the nearest immediate future.
All the products of the National Youth Games and the School Sports Federation games should be drafted into a growth enhancement program, hire some of the best Athletics coaches from around the world and ensure the construction and maintenance of high-performance pitches and gymnasia.
The Sports Federations must be populated with patriotic and passionate sports men who are brimming with enthusiasm, desire and creativity.
President Tinubu did not only resuscitate the National Sports Commission, he gave an unprecedented 12 billion naira to the Sports Ministry for AFCON and other tournaments earlier this year so we have a listening President who can restore our lost glory in sports and athletics in particular. Nigeria must reclaim its podium standing capability as soon as possible.
Danladi Bako, OON was Senior Special Assistant to former Minister of Youth and Sports as well as one-time Chairman Sokoto State Football Association.
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By KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria’s silver medal finish at the Tokyo 2025 World Athletics Championships once again highlighted the country’s roller-coaster fortunes on the global stage.
While the podium placement ensured Nigeria did not return empty-handed, the overall medal count has remained stagnant in recent years compared to other rising athletics nations.
At the Doha 2019 Championships, Team Nigeria endured a barren outing, failing to register a single medal. Three years later in Oregon 2022, Ese Brume broke the drought with a stunning gold in the women’s long jump — Nigeria’s first-ever world title in the event.
The momentum continued into Budapest 2023, where world record holder Tobi Amusan claimed silver in the women’s 100m hurdles, cementing Nigeria’s presence among the elite hurdlers. In Tokyo this year, the nation repeated the feat in the same event, albeit again settling for silver.
A comparative glance at the last four editions shows a troubling trend: Nigeria has not improved its medal tally, with just one medal each in 2022, 2023, and 2025.
This raises urgent questions about depth, consistency, and investment in talent development beyond the few star performers.
Comparative Medal Table (2019–2025)
- Doha 2019 – 0 medals (No standout performance)
- Oregon 2022 – 1 Gold (Ese Brume, Women’s Long Jump)
- Budapest 2023 – 1 Silver (Tobi Amusan, 100m Hurdles)
- Tokyo 2025 – 1 Silver (100m Hurdles)
The pattern underscores Nigeria’s reliance on individual brilliance rather than systemic excellence. Athletics analysts argue that unless the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) strengthens grassroots programs, invests in coaching and sports science, and improves athlete welfare, the country risks stagnating while competitors from Africa and beyond surge ahead.
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BY KUNLE SOLAJA.
Nigeria wrapped up its campaign at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Tokyo with a single silver medal, finishing joint 25th on the overall medals table with eight others on the medals tables as the curtain was drawing on the championship.
The position may even deepen at the end of the day.
Star hurdler Tobi Amusan delivered the country’s only podium finish, placing second in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Despite the modest medal haul, several Nigerian athletes impressed with near-misses and record-breaking efforts.
Ezekiel Nathaniel narrowly missed out on a medal in the men’s 400m hurdles, finishing fourthin a national record time. Kanyinsola Ajayi also reached the men’s 100m final, settling for sixth, while shot put specialist Chukwuebuka Enekwechi placed fifthin his event.
Nigeria fielded 15 athletes – eight men and seven women – in Tokyo. While the performances reflected resilience, the lack of medals beyond Amusan’s silver highlighted gaps in preparation and depth.
Analysts point to the absence of Nigeria’s traditionally strong relay teams, logistical challenges, and inadequate athlete support as major setbacks.
Sports observers insist that the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) must chart a new path if the country is to climb the global athletics ladder.
Key recommendations include better logistics and athlete welfare, renewed focus on relay programmes, grassroots talent identification, and consistent funding.
Despite the below-par medal count, the performances in Tokyo suggest Nigeria still possesses world-class potential. With reforms and stronger administration, the AFN has an opportunity to turn near-misses into podium finishes at future championships.
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