International Women’s Day: 10 Amazing Amazons Who Made History In Track And Field

Saturday, March 8, 2025, was the International Women’s Day and, courtesy Complete Sports, we look back in history at 10 Nigerian women who made history of some sort, either in terms of their performances or podium appearances.

Mary Onyali: Fondly called the queen of the track in her active days on the track, Onyali is one of the most decorated Nigerian track and field athletes, winning medals in almost all major competitions, including the Olympics.
Onyali is the first Nigerian woman to break 11 seconds in the 100m event. She achieved this when she ran 10.97 at the World Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, Germany in 1993.

Falilat Ogunkoya: ‘Fali’ made double history at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996. She is the first Nigerian track and field athlete to win an individual medal at the quadrennial event and also the first, and so far the only won to win two medals at the same edition of the Games via, both in African record-setting fashions.
Her bronze medal win in the 400m paved the way for Onyali and Chioma Ajunwa who also mounted the podium at the Games. Her 49.10 run in the full lap race is still the African record in the event and she also anchored the 4x400m team to a 3:24.– record.
She is also the first Nigerian to be crowned champion in the final of World Athletics’ elite one-day meets following her 400m win at the Grand Prix Final in Moscow, Russia in 1998 to be crowned the Golden League champion.

Chioma Ajunwa: Nigeria’s greatest feat in track and field was achieved by Ajunwa whose 7.12m leap at the long jump pit at the Olympics in 1996 was not only an African record (since broken by Ese Brume) but also the first by a Nigerian in the history of Nigeria’s participation at the Olympics.

Tobi Amusan: Amusan made history on many fronts for Nigeria with her World outdoor title win the greatest of all the feats. She won the 100m hurdles at the World Athletics Championships in 2022, a feat no Nigerian has ever performed in the history of the competition. She also became the first Nigerian to set a World outdoor record when she ran 12.12 on her way to winning the high hurdles gold. Amusan is also the first Nigerian to holds the Nigerian Championships, African Games, African Championships, Commonwealth Games and World Championships records at the same time.
Amusan successfully defended her Commonwealth Games title three years ago in Birmingham to make history as the first Nigerian track and field athlete to successfully defend a Commonwealth Games title.

Glory Alozie: ‘Pocket sized’ Alozie was a delight to watch over the hurdles in the late 1990s when she was still donning the colours of Nigeria. The petite sprint hurdler transformed from a World U20 silver medalist in the 100m hurdles in 1996 to become one of the best in the world in 1998, 1999 and 2000.
Within these three years, Alozie made history as the first Nigerian to win medals at the World Athletics Championships, indoors and out and at the Olympics. She won a silver medal indoors in 1999 in Maebashi, Japan in March 1999 and repeated her silver medal win at the outdoor version in Seville, Spain the following August.
In 2000, a grieving Alozie (lost her boyfriend, Hyginus Anugo in Sydney, Australia on the eve of the Olympic Games) also raced to the high hurdles podium, settling for another silver medal.

Blessing Okagbare: One of the greatest sprinters Nigeria has ever produced, Okagbare made history at the World Athletics Championships in Moscow, Russia in 2013 when she became the first, and so far only Nigerian, to win two medals at World Athletics’ flagship event. She won a silver in the long jump and bronze in the 200m events.
Okagbare is also the first Nigerian woman to break 10.90 in the 100m event and the first to also break 10.80 in the event (10.79).

Ese Brume: Brume is the only Nigerian athlete to win medals at every major local, continental and global championships and Games. She has won the Nigerian long jump title on five occasions, won African Games and African Championships titles and won her second Commonwealth Games long jump title three years ago in Birmingham.
Globally, she has won medals at the World indoor and outdoor championships as well as at the Olympics.

Favour Ofili: Ofili is one of the talents many believe is just fulfilling her potentials and that could make podium appearances at global events. She was a 200m finalist at the Olympics despite the psychological trauma and torture she was subjected to by Athletics Federation of Nigeria officials who failed to register her for the 100m event at the Olympics.
The pretty, 21 year old served notice of what is to come in 2022 when she ran 21.96 in the 100m event to become the first and only Nigerian to break 22 seconds in the half lap event. She is also the first Nigerian woman to break 23 seconds indoors over the distance and holds the Nigerian record in the event indoor (22.11) and outdoor (21.96).

Chioma Onyekwere: Chioma may not have reached a level capable of getting her to the podium at global championships and Games but the 30 year old achieved three years ago in Birmingham will remain indelible in the minds of Nigerians.
She became the first Nigerian woman in Commonwealth Games history to win the Discus Throw title.

Doreen Amata: Temitope Adeshina is the Nigerian record holder in the high jump but Amaka remains the only Nigerian woman to have made the final of the event at the World Athletics Championships, finishing seventh in Daegu, South Korea in 2011. She is also on record the first high jumper to compete at the Olympic Games–she actually participated in three Olympic Games (2008, 2012 and 2016).