Olympics: Nigerians who won medals for other countries amid Nigeria’s drought

Nigeria’s athletes returned home without a single medal for the eighth time in Olympic history, as Team Nigeria concluded its Paris 2024 Olympic campaign on Saturday.

88 athletes featured across 12 sports for Nigeria at the Paris Olympic Games.

Hannah Reuben lost her Women’s Freestyle 76kg fight early Saturday to effectively put the country’s slim hope of making the podium to rest.

Mongolia’s Enkh-Amaryn Davaanasan defeated her 5-2 in the round of 16 tie, capping off the country’s worst Olympic outing since London 2012.

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However, athletes of Nigerian heritage who represented other countries won medals.

SALWA EID NASER

The Nigerian-born athlete won silver for Bahrain in the 400m women’s event at the Olympics. The athlete was formerly known as Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu. She picked up athletics early in Nigeria and performed at the 2013 School Sports in Port Harcourt and the National Youth Games in Ilorin. However, the athlete left Nigeria for Bahrain when she was 15, converted to Islam, and changed her name.

YEMISI OGUNLEYE

Ogunleye was born in Germany to a European mother and a Nigerian father. She won gold for the country of her birth in shotput at the 2024 Paris Olympics, the first for the country since Astrid Kumbernuss in 1996. She identifies with the country of her birth and is proud of her Nigerian heritage.

ANNETTE ECHIKUNWOKE

Echikunwoke was said to be set to represent Nigeria at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics but was ruled ineligible after the Athletics Federation of Nigeria failed to follow proper steps. She switched allegiance to the United States and won a silver medal in the hammer throw, the first American woman to win a medal in the sport.

SAMUEL OMORODION

Omorodion is a Spanish professional footballer of Nigerian descent who plays as a striker. He was part of the Spanish team that won the gold medal in the men’s football tournament. He missed the final match in preparation for his move from Atletico Madrid to Chelsea.