All Tobi Amusan did was conquer the world. Just a little over five feet (5ft1inch), people remember her as the diminutive athlete who towered on the podium and shed tears of joy as the Nigerian anthem boomed around the Hayward Field venue of the 2022 World Athletics Championship (WAC) in Oregon, United States.
The narrative of her rise to renown would, however, not be complete without examining her backstory. Amusan has grown from the listless 15-year-old who won her race in her school’s inter-house sports competition to becoming a global queen of track and field.
Her story may read as a scratchy, rustling detail embedded with remarkable twists and subplots, but through the jumble of words, gothic flutters, and curlicues, Amusan looms imposingly in manifest radiance.
On Sunday, July 24, the 25-year-old sped a stunning 12:12 seconds to smash the World Record in the women’s 100-meter hurdles event at the semifinals of the WAC.
Amusan draws eyes and minds to her feats on track and field with unmistakable finesse, shining brilliantly and earning global respect for the extraordinary poetry of her sprint.
Amusan caused a stir after smashing the World Record at the Oregon’22; she bested the host nation, United States’ Kendra Harrison’s 2016 time of 12:20 seconds.
About an hour later, she broke her own record in the finals, running a shocking 12:06 seconds to be crowned the world champion. However, the time didn’t stand because the wind speed was over the acceptable limit.
Nonetheless, Amusan became the first Nigerian ever to break the World Record in any event, with her feat in the 100-meter hurdles at the semi-final stage.
Amusan’s world record sent shockwaves through the athletics world.
“Wow” tweeted Jamaican track and field great Usain Bolt, while 200m champion and American record holder Noah Lyles tweeted: “12:12 are you kidding me?” Both congratulated her on Twitter.
The alumnus of Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School in Ijebu Ode, Ogun State, started her sports journey as a football player but she just loved running around. Her athletic journey would eventually bloom at age 15 when she won the 100 meters race at her school’s inter-house sports competition.
Amusan subsequently caught the attention of an athletics coach who pitted her against supposedly well-trained athletes, and she defeated them, coming first. Thus began her athletics career in Ijebu-Ode.
Amusan sprinted to national consciousness when she won a silver medal at the 2013 African Youth Championships in Warri, Delta State. Athletes Ese Brume and Divine Oduduru were all also winners at the continental meet.
When she was replaced as a member of Nigeria’s 4x100m relay squad at the trials for the Botswana 2014 African Youth Games, she decided to compete in the hurdles.
Her performance earned her the silver medal at the competition. And the following year, 2015, she won the African U20 gold, followed by another victory at the All-African Games in Brazzaville, Congo.
But it wasn’t all roses and red velvet for Amusan on the rigorous track and field. Her journey to acclaim was fraught with some tinge of failure; Amusan suffered one or two mishaps in her early days as an athlete. One such incident was her disqualification in 2013, at the World Athletics U18 Championships in Donetsk, Ukraine, where she was penalised for lane infringement during the 200-meter semi-finals. But she was undaunted; she became motivated to perform better.
She was further inspired when former President Goodluck Jonathan hosted the Nigerian contingent at the Championship to dinner. “Back then I thought by competing in the track I’d get to meet the president all the time. I thought ‘if this is true, I’m going to take track seriously,” Amusan recalled in an interview.
And she took the track seriously, making it to the fourth position at the 100 meters hurdles semi-final at the 2016 Rio Olympics; she came fourth at the WAC in 2019; fourth at the 2020 Olympics; and fourth again in the 100 meters hurdles final at the 2021 Tokyo Olympic Games.
After the Tokyo meet, Amusan admitted that she had learnt a lot of lessons at the event. “Physically, I think I was ready, but mentally I wasn’t. I think my mentality let me down,” she said.
Twelve months later, in June 2022, at the All-Nigeria Championships and qualifiers for the World and the Commonwealth Games in Benin, Edo State, Amusan broke the African record.
She said in a post-race interview, “You know, it’s been God…It’s been a journey, and I am thankful to God for keeping me healthy. I am more thankful because to come out here with a win and a world record is crazy.”
In 2016, Amusan received a scholarship to attend the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP), United States, the same institution Blessing Okagbare attended. At UTEP, she trained with a new coach, Lacena Golding-Clarke, a three-time Olympian from Jamaica, and the 2002 Commonwealth Games 100 meters hurdles champion.
Through hard grooming, Amusan improved her personal best from 13:10 to 12:83. Two years down the line, she has broken two African records, including the 12:44 seconds held by her fellow track and field champ, Gloria Alozie.
Amusan has a World Record to boot, with her feat at Oregon’22. The elated athlete enthused just after her victory: “I was the ‘almost girl; I got fourth, fourth, fourth. Now I finally did it.”
And finally, too, the ambitious teen from Ijebu-Ode, has become a world champion, a pride to Nigeria and Africa.
She has clearly evolved from the 15-year-old teenager, who dazzled at her high school’s inter-house sports competition, to become a global track and field idol.
But her journey to victory didn’t lay out in flat miles; she had to contend with an injury scare. Thus to forestall unforeseen contingencies and as a measure of faith in her abilities, Amusan took a $50,000 loan to aid her preparations for the WAC in Oregon.
Speaking to journalists in Lagos, just after the World Athletics body ratified her 12:12 seconds finish at the world championship semi-finals as the new World Record, the track and field champ reflected on why she took the loan and the circumstance leading to her historical exploit in Oregon.
She revealed that she was injury prone, hence the need to take the loan to keep her in shape for the competition.
“Yes, definitely. I’ve got injuries a couple of times…There was so much I needed to do when it comes to my health as a professional athlete, and staying on top of my game required a lot of funding.”
The 25-year-old consolidated her feat with a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom, before retaining her Diamond League title to put a brilliant wrap on her season.
Following her feats, Amusan was conferred with the national honour of Officer of the Order of the Niger (OON) by President Muhammadu Buhari.
“It’s a great feeling to be recognised by the President,” she said, adding, “In as much as we did the work, it was an honour that they realised that we did the nation proud and it was a great feeling getting that title.”
Amusan received $100,000 for breaking the World Record in Oregon. She also earned $30,000 for retaining her Diamond League title.
Four years earlier, at exactly 7a.m Texas time, on November 8, 2016, Amusan wrote on Twitter, “Unknown now, but I will be UNFORGETTABLE … I will Persist until I SUCCEED.” You could be forgiven for thinking she’s clairvoyant.
In a subsequent tweet, in 2020, Amusan mused on Twitter, “My coach taught me that when I walk into a room full of my rivals to look like I own the damn world record. She always reminds me that I’ve practiced hard to trust myself and translate that aggressiveness onto the track.”
And she does this with incredible panache, beating her rivals to the finish line, and striking a mirthful pose for the cameras, post-victory, in Nigerian colours.
Between her delightful victory strut and post-race celebration, Amusan symbolises uncommon fortitude and self-assertion.
While these are often expected from heroes, Amusan projects them as heroine traits in a way that speaks directly to her circumstance and our time. She elevates sports excellence as a feminine construct at a time when the Nigerian athlete must duel with daunting odds to attain renown.
With her emphatic victory in Oregon and a subsequent feat at the Commonwealth Games, Amusan easily becomes the most celebrated woman in contemporary sports. She challenges the archetypal averageness of the Nigerian athlete and reasserts with female force, the imagery of the Nigerian athlete as a global champion.
Amusan shoulders a rebirth of Nigerian athletics. Her romance of the tracks ultimately stifles the heartbreak and failure of track and field love.
