Deji Aliu and Endurance Ojokolo are two of the greatest Nigerian spirnters the country has ever produced. Adewale Olukoju was a colossus in the throws, especially the discus while Fatimah Yusuf Olukoju remains one of the finest 400m runners Nigeria has ever produced and one of only three to run inside 50 seconds.
Olusoji Fasuba’s feats in the 60m and 100m events speak for him. He is the first Nigerian nay African man to win the 60m gold at the World indoor championships, the first African man to win three consecutive 100m gold at the African Athletics Championships.. and a former African record holder.
The Ihemes may not have been as famous and successful on the track but they have a son destined to project the family name to high heavens.
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These former Nigerian track and field stars look to be seeking a continuation of their legacies..
Immanuel Aliu
Now 24, she is the daughter of Deji Aliu and Enduranece Ojokolo. Her father, Deji, was a two-time national 100m champion and won all available titles on the African continent.
He was an African junior and senior champion and holds the African Games 100m record of 9.95 seconds. He is also the fastest Nigerian ever over the 60m (6.48). He was World U20 champion over the 400m in 1994 and ran in the Nigerian 4x100m team that won an Olympic bronze medal in 2004 in Athens.
Her mother, Endurance, was also a national 100m queen. She won the blue ribband event seven times in nine years (only Mary Onyali has won more).
She was African junior and senior champions and ran in the final of the 4x100m event at the 2004 Olympics. She is the fourth fastest Nigerian ever in the 60m event (7.08 seconds).
Immanuela is looking more like a chip off the old block. She was a European U-20 champion in 2019 and the 24 year old hopes to fully recover from an injury that has kept her out of the track since April 2022 to compete and win laurels for Nigeria like her parents did.
Annabelle Fasuba
Annabelle is surely following in the footsteps of her father after she became English Schools’ champion at a prestigious track and field championships which were held at Birmingham’s Alexander Stadium this month.
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The 13 year old has enjoyed a dream debut season, breaking club, county, regional and league records.
She has made history by becoming Devon, a ceremonial county in South West England’s first 100m English Schools’ sprint champion.
She set a new personal best of 12.03 seconds to win a stacked junior girls’ final and helped the mixed 4x100m relay team to win a silver medal.
Divine Iheme
What his father, Innocent, could not really achieve, his 14 year old son looks to be on the path to achieving that: stardom.
Divine has achieved United Kingdom’s all-time under-15 age group bests of 10.76/0.5 in the 100m and 21.74/0.6 in the 200m.
He is the reigning English Schools 100m champion and won the sprint double in the English Athletics indoor age-group championships.
Rosey Effiong
She is the daughter of Nigerian track stars Daniel Effiong, a 100m finalist at the 1993 World Athletics Championships and World University Games champion, also in 1993 and Onyinyechi Chikezie, who won a 4x400m bronze at the World University Games in 1993.
Rosey has opted to compete for the USA and has been crowned NCAA champions, indoors and out four times between 2022 and 2024. She was also in the USA quartet that won the 4x400m mixed relay gold at the World Athletics Championships in 2023. With a lifetime best of 49.72 in the 400m, the 23 year old could have been a quality addition to Nigeria’s 4x400m relay team.
Raykiyat Olukoju
In April, Raykiyat, 19, announced her big entrance into the big stage in track and field after she was named the Big West Track Athlete of the Week.
She broke UCR’s 100m record in 11.51, besting all Big West competitors for the fastest wind-legal 100m in the conference this year.
She also ran the second leg of UCR’s record-breaking 4×100 squad that won the collegiate division at Mt. SAC in 45.56.
Raykiyat also sped to a 23.06 lifetime best just last month and looks almost a cast iron certainty to step into the big shoes left behind by her parents, especially her mother, Fatimah, who was a World U20 and Commonwealth Games 400m champion in 1990 and one of only two Nigerians to run in the finals of the 400m at both the World Athletics Championships and then Olympic Games.
By Dare Esan
