By KELVIN BRIGHT
Six years ago, specifically on November 8, 2016, Nigeria’s rave of the moment, Tobi Amusan, had a dream of becoming World champion when she wrote in her Twitter handle, Oluwatobiloba Amusan@Evaglobal01: Unknown now but soon I will be. I will persist until I succeed.”
Just one day before the Athletics World Champion in Eugene, Oregon, once again Amusan looked into her future ascendancy into athletics royalty and on Adidas wall where every athlete was free to comment, she wrote: “Here is incoming World Champion,” “Incoming World Record holder.”
At the blast of the whistle on Monday morning, Amusa glided all the10 hurdles like the butterfly reaching a full circulation of metamorphosis. She soared like the eagle above other competitors and shattered records, and she became global heroin –known all over the world.
Tobi Amusan had set a new world record in the women’s 100m hurdles. She had streaked to the finished line in 12.05 seconds to win gold at the event. And an emotional 25-year-old champion from Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, sheds tears of joy as Nigeria’s national anthem is being played. Amusan suddenly realised she’s one of those “heroes” in the anthem now.
Amusan’s journey to stardom and the podium may have ended long ago but for divine intervention. In one of her chats with the media, Amusa revealed that her father was absolutely against her involvement in sports. But she went into alliance with the mother who was also an athlete (Volleyball player) and tutored her to always lie to the father that she has gone to the church each time she went for training.
These lies did not last long as the burble soon burst. The father knew she was still going for training. And in a rage of fury, the angry father burnt all Tobi’s training kits including canvas, spike shoes and all the rest. But that did not deter her. She continued to pursue her dream.
On that fateful Monday morning, her name became a source of inspiration to millions of children all over the world.
How it Began
Amusan began considering the path of professional athletics when she represented Nigeria at the first edition of the African Youth Athletics Championship in 2013. At 16, she competed in the 200 meters sprint and won silver for the country.
Two years later, she was part of the contingent for the 2015 African Youth Athletics Championship and she won the gold medal with 14.26 seconds in the women’s 100 meters hurdles. It was a huge feat for the teenager but it would cost her a potential scholarship in the US.
“My school [University of Texas, El Paso] had been contacting me since 2014 before I went for the 2015 African Junior Championships. But there I ran above 14 seconds and they told me it wasn’t up to the standard for recruiting for the NCAAs Division 1 level,” she had said in one interview.
However, she funneled her disappointment into a three-month training for the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo. She went into the competition ranked distant 10th. Amusan would then break the African U-20 record twice as she ran 13.15 to win the gold medal in the women’s 100 meters hurdles. The school came calling again, this time with ferocity and desperation.
“You don’t even want to know about the phone calls [from UTEP]! They were killing me with calls! “Can you send this, can you send that?!” Amusan said.
Amusan’s sprint career did not start as a hurdler but fate and a blessing in disguise of disappointment sent her down that path.
Replaced as a member of the Nigerian 4x100m relay squad at the trials for the 2014 African Youth Games, a resilient Amusan enquired about other events she could participate in. The organisers suggested the 100 meters hurdles and with the top two automatically selected for a place in the Nigerian team for those games, Amusan figured she had nothing to lose.
“If it is run and jump, I thought I’ll do it. I had played around with hurdles in practice but I had never competed before,” she had said about the change.
She surprised herself and went on to earn silver at the African Youth Games in Botswana in only her second hurdles race.
In 2018, she became the first Nigerian female hurdler to win gold at the Commonwealth Games. She also won gold at the 2018 African Athletics Championship and 2019 All African Games.
Despite her dominance and consistency, Amusan hit the wrong side of luck in major championships between 2019 to 2021.
At the 2019 World Championships in Doha, Qatar, she finished fourth in the final of the women’s 100-meter hurdles with 12.49 seconds.
She also fell short in the final at the Toko Olympics when she dipped 12.60 seconds to place fourth in the race.
Amusan was apparently hurt after she was labelled the “almost girl” for all the near misses at the grand stages.
“I know a lot of people have tagged me the ‘almost’ girl. I’ve seen and heard a lot of comments,” she had said. “It’s just sad knowing that I’m that girl that people tag ‘almost’ and that’s the main force that’s going to drive me next year. I don’t want to be the ‘almost’ girl. I want to be ‘that girl’, the girl that wins every competition.”
Away from the disappointments, Amusan’s consistency and hard work paid off in September 2021.She became the first Nigerian athlete ever to win a World Athletics Diamond League trophy as she placed first in the women’s 100 meters hurdles final.
Amusan clocked 12.42 seconds to break Alozie’s 23-year-old national record and become Africa’s fastest hurdler in the women’s category.
There was no stopping her from there on as she continued to break and set a new African record thrice in a year.
On June 19, the Nigerian set a new African record in the women’s 100 meters hurdles as she dipped 12.41 seconds at the Diamond League meet in Paris.
On July 23, Amusan also set a new African record of 12.40 seconds when she won heat three in the women’s 100m hurdles.
She then reduced the time further in the semi-final to clinch the world record of 12.12 seconds
From the sandy tracks of inter-house sports at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Ijebu-Ode, Ogun State, to the bouncy arena in Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, an accidental hurdler has gone on to become Nigeria’s first-ever world record holder in athletics. Amusan has immortalised her name in the history of track and field events. She momentarily changed all the bad narratives about happenings in Nigeria.
Amusan can now beat her chest and jump on roof top to proclaim: “I knew I would make it.”
