Earlier, this morning, the name Tobi Amusan had captured the air with pervading euphoria, following Nigeria’s outstanding performance at the 2022 world’s Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon. Tobi Amusan, a Nigerian female sprinter broke a lifetime jinx as she clinched a gold medal at the women’s 100m hurdles final and emerged the first ever Nigerian Athlete in history to win a world title at the World Athletics Championships.
The Nigerian hurdle sprinter who has suddenly become a wide-reaching internet sensation also broke a six-year-old record of 12.20 seconds held by Keni Harrison by finishing at 12.12 seconds in the semi finals.
Records show that Tobi’s victory is not a flash in the pan. The Nigerian 25-years-old University of Texas graduate has been on her journey to stardom for over a period of ten years now. In a twit posted on her twitter page six years ago, Tobi Amusan had said she was going to set a record that would make her name unforgettable in history, and she indeed has worked towards making her dream a reality.
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From a story of shocking denial of her capability due to a failed time-machine in the Olympics Trials in Nigeria, Tobi has rewritten her story on the global stage, casting her shadow to be larger than life.
Last year, during the finals of the Olympics Trials of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria which held at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos, Tobi Amusan was denied the chance to break a 23-years-old record held by Gloria Alozie due to the faulty electronic timer.
She’d won comfortably but the electronic timer failed to display the time at the end of the race. The hand timer which was eventually deployed showed she won the race in time of 12.3 seconds which would have supplanted Alozie’s 12.44 seconds that was set in 1998.
However, since the world athletics only recognises the electronic timing device, her record was denied. It was a big disappointment for her and many of her fans who had anticipated to see her set a new African record in the women’s hurdles event.
This year came with a huge compensation for Tobi Amusan on a global stage as she set the record far away from Nigeria.
Asked about how she felt about her winning, Amusan said, even though she’d always believed in her abilities, she did not expect a world record at this championship. According to her,
“It’s a dream come true. I knew I had it in me, but I could not believe it when I saw it on the screen after the semis. But it was just a matter of time.”
Nigeria finished at overall 13th position in the championship, following Amusan’s gold medal in the 100m women hurdles and Ese Brume’s silver medal in the long jump.