By ABDULBASIT TORIOLA
September 3, 2023.
Due to Visa hitches, Tobi Amusan missed the world record championships held at Oregon in 2014. Ironically, the same event hosted at the same place saw her break the world record
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Tobi Amusan is an OON. She was conferred this National Honour by Mr. President – meaning you can’t write her name without putting OON behind.
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The second largest sportswear manufacturer in the world, ADIDAS, has sponsored Amusan long before her 2022 record alongside Nigerian athletes like Ese Brume.
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She kind of predicted her success. Around November 2016, an 18-year old Amusan went on tweeted this: “Unknown now, but soon I will be unforgettable. I will persist until I succeed.”
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Tobi Amusan really has a second mum. And that’s her coach – Lacena Golding-Clarke.
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Birthed to Mr. Kehinde Amusan, Tobi is the last of her parent’s three children. She grew up living with them at Ijebu-Ode in Ogun state,
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You definitely know Brume: she was the long jumper that won Nigeria a gold medal, alongside Amusan, at the 2022 championships. Yes, she’s friends with Amusan.
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As with every success story, Tobi’s journey to where she is right now wasn’t all-round smooth. Her father said, in an interview, that they struggled to pay her fees.
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Her father didn’t sanction her venture into athletics. He wanted her to study Medicine instead. At one instance, he burnt her running kits and warned that he should never see her run again.
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Tobi Amusan bowed out of the University of Texas El Paso (UTEP) in 2019. She graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology.