Nojim Maiyegun, Nigeria’s pioneering Olympic medallist and former boxer, has passed away at the age of 83. His death was confirmed on Monday by his close confidante, Rudolfine F. Soultan, in an emotional Facebook post.
“My Jimmy died. I can’t say more about this right now because it’s just horrible. The day after tomorrow, we would have been together for 17 years,” she wrote.
Maiyegun’s passing comes just days after the 60th anniversary of his historic achievement at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, where he won a bronze medal in boxing on August 10.Competing in the Light Middleweight category, Maiyegun shared the bronze with Józef Grzesiak of Poland, as there is no third-place bout in Olympic boxing, and both semifinal losers are awarded bronze medals.
His victory marked a significant milestone in Nigerian sports history, as it was the country’s first Olympic medal since its debut at the Helsinki 1952 Games, ending a 12-year medal drought.
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Maiyegun’s remarkable journey in Tokyo included a swift second-round victory over Great Britain’s William Robinson, knocking him out in just one minute and 59 seconds. He went on to defeat Denmark’s Tom Bogs in the quarterfinals before losing to France’s Joseph Gonzalez in the semifinals.
Maiyegun continued to make his mark in the boxing world, winning another bronze medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. In 1971, he left Nigeria to pursue a professional boxing career, where he fought 16 times, winning 12 of those bouts—10 by knockout.
Born on February 17, 1941, in Lagos, Maiyegun had been battling an illness and had become visually impaired in recent years.
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