‘Not I, but Jesus in me’, Yemisi Ogunleye’s faith in God propels her to Olympic Shot Put gold

‘Not I, but Jesus in me.’ German shot putter, Yemisi Ogunleye wrote on her Instagram page, @yemimagdalena

Born to a German mother and a Nigerian father, Yemisi has shown when one walks with the Lord, in the light of His words, one is bound to get bountifully rewarded.

The 25-year-old has reaped bountifully from walking with God. The journey that started this year with a silver medal in the shot put event at the World indoors in March has ended in a historic way.

She has not only won Germany’s first track and field gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics, but she is also the first German in 28 years to win gold in the event.

The last time a German was crowned Olympic shot put champion was in 1996 when Astrid Kumbernuss, the reigning world champion at the time, added the Olympic title to her collection.

Ogunleye has revealed she took her debut participation at the Olympics before God and was told she would win gold. Of course, her faith at the time was not that strong to believe in miracles.

‘Some time ago, I was just praying and asking God what He wants to do with the Olympic Games. And He was like, ‘We are going to get gold. I did not have faith at that moment. But He kept on telling me. It sounds literally crazy, but I have seen it in front of my eyes, and I really started to have faith and the confidence that it is possible,’ she told Olympics.com.

Ogunleye had never even won a national, European or world championship medal before February 2024 when she won the shot put event at the German indoor championships.

She also had never thrown 19m before May 2023 and 20m before March this year.

She threw 20.19m to win silver at the World indoors in Glasgow and came to Paris as one of only six athletes to have thrown at least 20m this year.

Ogunyele says her goal coming to the Paris 2024 Olympics was to hit the 20m mark again, for the second time in her career.

She did just that and the rest is now history.