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By Wikimedia

Top 5 Nigerian athletes

Nigerians love football, it is a national obsession. The Super Eagles are the country’s national team. It is one of the best performing teams in men’s African football.

The team has won 3 Africa Cup of Nations and has qualified for 6 FIFA World Cups, the most recent being in 2018.

Nigerian football players have not only represented put their nation’s flag on the world map but have also been part of international clubs in Europe and have been among the best players in the premier league.

One other sport that may not be on the competitive level includes their traditional martial sport, Dambe.

This is a Hausa boxing game where men get to show their masculinity and defend their family’s honour. It is mostly held during cultural festivals.

Nigerians participate in many other sports other than the two mentioned. These athletes play in a range of sports such as basketball, volleyball, track and field events and even boxing.

Let us now look at the top 5 Nigerian athletes.

1. Rashidi Yekini

Rashidi Yekini was a Nigerian footballer who played as a striker. He played for both Nigeria and 6 other international clubs in Europe in his 20-year career.

He was named the African player of the year in 1993.

Rashidi became popular during a FIFA World cup tournament in 1994 when they played against Bulgaria.

He scored the first goal for Nigeria in that year’s world cup. Before that, Rashidi aided his country’s win in the Africa Cup of Nations by scoring five leading goals in the tournament.

He played professional football for fourteen years. He was able to score 37 goals for the Super Eagles in 58 matches.

He played for; Vitoria Setubal in 1990 to 1994 and then in 1997, Olympiacos, Sporting Gijon, Zurich, Bizerte and Al-Shabaab Riyadh.

The five seasons that he played for Portuguese Vitoria Setubal team, he scored 34 goals in 32 games this was his best season.

In the following season, Rashidi scored 21 goals in 28 matches.

He died aged 49 in 2012.

2. John Obi Mikel

By Warren Fish – Wikimedia

John Obi Mikel is a popular Nigerian professional footballer who played as a defensive midfielder for Trabzonspor football club in Turkey.

Obi Mikel’s career picked up when he was 12 years old in a football competition that was organized by Pepsi. They were scouting for young football talents in Nigeria.

Obi Mikel was lucky through his talent and was picked from more than 3000 young talent that showed up for the Pepsi football academy.

He started off playing for a local football club in Nigeria, the Plateau United.

On his 17^th birthday, he got signed by Lyn in Norway in 2004.

Two years later he got transferred to the English club Chelsea F.C, this was even after Manchester United stated that they had signed him before Chelsea.

He spent 11 years in Chelsea during which he made 350 appearances and scored 6 goals.

He then moved to a Chinese football club, Tianjin TEDA in 2017. He played for this club for two years with 31 appearances and 3 goals.

He later returned to England’s Middlesbrough for a short term deal the afterwards joined Trabzonspor on a free transfer in July 2019.

In a 14-year international career between 2005 and 2019, he played 88 times for Nigeria, scoring six goals.

3. Oluwatobiloba Amusan

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Oluwatobiloba Ayomide Amusan also known as ‘Tobi’ is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and as a sprinter too.

As a teenager, Tobi showed athletics potential and went to win her first silver medal at the African Youth Championship in 2013.

She has won the African Games championship twice. She is the most recent African athlete that has had a successful record-holding career at the Commonwealth Games that were held in Queensland, Australia.

She became the first Nigerian female athlete to win the gold medal at the 100 meters hurdles. She was also the first to win a medal in the championships.

She was the second female athlete to win a medal in the 100 meters race, the first-ever bronze medal was won by Modupe Oshikoya in 1974.

Nigeria won a total of 8 medals and was the 8^th in the overall ranking.

While not representing Nigeria in an international track competition, Tobi is also a member of her college athletics team.

She is the reigning champion of the American Collegiate 100 metres hurdles. Her best time in the race is 12.68 seconds, she represents The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP).

She was able to beat Danielle William a Jamaican and Yanique Thompson who came in second and third respectively.

4. Blessing Okagbare

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Blessing Okagbare is another successful Nigerian track and field athlete. She has specialized in the long jump and short sprints.

Blessing is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in both long jumps and 200 meters race.

She participated in the commonwealth games and emerged as the African record holder for the 100 meters race with the best time of 10.85 seconds.

Her 200 meters record from 2018 was 22.04 seconds. Blessing has also won several medals from the All-African Games, the IAAF Continental Cup and World relays.

She was the lead in the first leg of the 4 by 200 world relays in 2015. Her teammates were Regina George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh.

The four won the race and set an African record. Blessing, however, missed the 200 meters race at the IAAF championships after she injured her hamstring in the World relays.

5. Chukwuebuka Enekwechi

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Chukwuebuka Enekwechi is a Nigerian-American track and field athlete that has mastered his art in shot put.

He plays professionally for the Nigerian national team. He came in a close second in the 2018 Commonwealth Games held in Queensland Australia, this was also his best year and his personal best record. He is also the reigning African champion in shot put.

This win made him get selected to represent Africa at the Ostrava continental cup.

Chukwuebuka won the 2019 African Championships and is also the record holder in Nigerian National sports festival in the shot put and hammer throw.

He also set a world record at the Grande Premio Brasil Caixa de Atletismo World Challenge meet in the shot put by throwing 21.77 meters.