Athletics
Nigeria’s Onyekwere proves her power, in and out of the throws circle
BY MADELINE RYAN
“I am strong,” Chioma Onyekwere says before she steps into the ring. “I am powerful. I am explosive.”
It’s an affirmation for Onyekwere to prepare herself mentally during each performance. But there’s truth to it, too.
The 29-year-old Nigerian discus thrower demonstrated her strength when she broke the African record earlier this season with a 64.96m throw that surpassed the qualification standard for the World Athletics Championships Budapest 23 in August.
Onyekwere has led a relentless career: as well as her area discus record she is a two-time African champion and last year she became the first Nigerian woman to win a discus title at the Commonwealth Games.
Beyond athletics, Onyekwere possesses a talent for mechanical engineering, which was her field of study in college. Moments not spent training for international competition are dedicated to her full-time work as an automotive engineer at Ford Motors.
But while her abilities in the circle stand out, her determination and leadership also warrants attention.
Two years ago, a lost opportunity lowered her hopes to the point of almost quitting the sport. But today, she speaks confidence into each attempt and sets an example for younger throwers.
“I can do this,” she says to herself now when she shakes out before competition. “And I’m capable of much more.”
Chioma Onyekwere competes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha (© Getty Images)
Questioning everything
In 2021, Onyekwere was supposed to have her year of domination. She set a PB that season, opening up the opportunity to represent Nigeria at the Olympics in Tokyo. It would be her first Olympics.
She says it felt like she was really on her way to achieving her dreams.
But she arrived in Tokyo to discover that the unthinkable had happened – she and some of her fellow Nigerian athletes were ruled ineligible to compete because the Nigerian Federation had not met the minimum drug-testing requirements for 10 of its athletes.
Classed as a “Category A” country by the Athletics Integrity Unit, Nigeria was required to ensure that at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests were conducted on each of its athletes, no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to the Olympics.
Onyekwere returned home to Michigan feeling consumed by grief so heavy, she considered never throwing again.
“It was definitely a time to stop and just question everything,” Onyekwere says.
But as she reflected, she realised that she wanted control over her own throwing career.
“I love throwing,” she adds. “And I wouldn’t want to stop this just because something else was in play and prevented me from moving forward. I would like to end it on my own terms.”
Her re-commitment to the sport was more of a process than an immediate shift. The first time she stepped foot in the ring again after a two-month break, she broke down and “started bawling.”
“I had so much anxiety about coming back to track and field, and so much anxiety about competing in general,” she says.
She spent time rediscovering what she loved so much about athletics. A self-proclaimed “math person” at heart, Onyekwere dove into the data of her progress. She keeps a journal where she records each distance, each mistake and each adjustment.
She tracks her training schedule compared to competitions or rest days, then compiles all of this data into spreadsheets she can look back on.
“I like numbers. Numbers don’t lie. And it brings out my geeky side a little bit,” Onyekwere adds with a laugh.
In addition to quantitative data, she also keeps notes on her emotions and thoughts during each throw. Tension and stress lead to messy throws. But when she’s calm and having fun, everything clicks.
She says her affirmations about strength and power are an essential part of her routine to combat in-the-ring anxiety.
“I have to calm my spirit and calm myself down before entering the circle,” she says. “And then I just get after it.”
You can have it all
Onyekwere shifted her priorities when she entered her new era as an athlete. She now wants to support the dreams of the next generation of throwers – the dreams she has for herself are a way to show them what’s possible.
She started sharing videos of her throws on social media as a resource for younger throwers.
“It’s such an honour, and it’s so sweet, to be a role model for the throwers out there. That’s one of the things that just makes you want to keep going,” Onyekwere says.
Just a few hours before competing at the Oklahoma Throws Series meeting in April, a coach approached Onyekwere at the track.
“Hey, I have this young African American girl that I coach, and she’s just so inspired by you,” Onyekwere remembers him saying. “And she really looks up to you.”
That was exactly the encouragement Onyekwere needed. At that meeting, she accomplished one of her biggest career goals when she broke the African record – previously left untouched for 16 years – with a 64.96m throw.
She realised that her accomplishments have an audience. Young throwers, and specifically female throwers, were watching to see what she’d do next.
“I’m hoping to inspire lots of young girls pursuing throwing, or to pursue anything they’re interested in. I want to tell them, ‘You can really do it all,’” Onyekwere says. “‘You can have it all.’”
She’ll be the first to say that she wasn’t the strongest thrower in college. While competing for the University of Maryland, it took her a while to break out of the 40-metre range.
But as she transitioned into her professional throwing career – while also working as a full-time engineer throughout the week – she saw rapid improvement.
Onyekwere won her first senior African Championships title in 2018, only a couple of years into the professional landscape. She then competed at the World Championships in Doha in 2019, and broke the Nigerian record in 2021 as a qualifier for the Olympics. She successfully defended her African title in 2022.
Her performance at the World Athletics Championships Oregon22 didn’t go as she had hoped when she didn’t make it through to the final, finishing with a mark of 57.87m.
But she came back strong later that season to win gold at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
So, what’s next for Onyekwere? She’s continuing to work full time at Ford Motors. Her area record-breaking throw was more than enough to qualify her for the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, where she’ll be chasing more improvements and hopefully more records. And she has her sights set on the Paris Olympics in 2024.
Most importantly, she wants her accomplishments to be a testament to the power of African women.
“I’ve said it before, but I really want to put Africa on the map and show that we’re a force to reckon with,” Onyekwere says. “We’re capable enough to have a seat at the table. And to do great things.”
–World Athletics
The proposed switch of allegiance by Nigerian sprint star Favour Ofili to Türkiye has hit a major obstacle, with Nigerian sports authorities insisting that the 23-year-old remains eligible to compete for Nigeria.
Ofili announced in September on her Instagram account, followed by more than 40,000 people, that she was beginning “a new chapter representing Türkiye,” signalling her intention to change sporting nationality after years of representing the Nigeria national athletics team.
“I moved to Türkiye to save my career from officials,” the U.S.-based sprinter later wrote, explaining that her decision was influenced by frustrations with Nigeria’s sporting administration.
However, nearly six months after the announcement, Ofili has yet to compete for her new country, and the process appears stalled.
A senior official of the National Sports Commission told reporters in February that Ofili is still considered a Nigerian athlete and cannot immediately switch allegiance.
“She is still our athlete,” the official said, adding that Ofili was among the elite athletes who received training scholarships from the commission last year.
According to the official, if the sprinter intends to compete for another country, she may have to wait until September 2028, potentially ruling out a change before the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Career Frustrations
Ofili’s rapid rise in athletics has been accompanied by several controversies that have strained her relationship with Nigeria’s sporting authorities.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, she was among Nigerian athletes barred from competing after failing to meet required out-of-competition doping control tests.
Ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, she also revealed she had been excluded from the women’s 100-metre event despite qualifying.
“It is with great sadness that I have just been informed that I will not be competing in the 100-metre dash at these Games,” she wrote at the time. “I qualified, but those in charge did not register me. I have worked for four years to earn this opportunity.”
Debate Over Loyalty
The controversy has sparked debate within Nigeria’s athletics community.
Former African sprint queen Mary Onyali recently said she rejected offers from European countries to compete under their flags during her career because of her loyalty to Nigeria.
Ofili responded by suggesting the circumstances were different, noting that Onyali “was never denied the opportunity to compete in any competition after working hard to qualify.”
Speaking through her coach, Dennis Shaver, Ofili also dismissed speculation that financial incentives were the main motivation for her proposed move.
“I am a woman, and I have a short-term job,” she said. “This is the ideal time to make the most of the time I have left in my career.”
Türkiye’s Recruitment Drive
Ofili’s case comes amid an aggressive talent recruitment drive by Türkiye aimed at strengthening its athletics programme ahead of the Los Angeles Olympics.
Following a disappointing performance at the Paris Games, where the country finished 64th in the medal table without a gold medal, Turkish authorities launched a strategy to recruit top athletes from abroad.
According to athletics coordinator Önder Özbilen, several international athletes have already agreed to compete for Türkiye.
Among them are four Jamaican athletes, including Olympic discus champion Roje Stona, as well as five Kenyan runners, including former marathon world-record holder Brigid Kosgei.
Whether Ofili will ultimately join them remains uncertain.
For now, the Port Harcourt-born sprinter remains officially tied to Nigeria, leaving unresolved the question of which flag she might carry on the road to the Los Angeles Olympics.
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Athletics
World Athletics Nullifies Junior Records of Three Ethiopian Runners Over Age Irregularities
World Athletics has refused to ratify several junior world records set by three Ethiopian distance runners after an investigation uncovered irregularities in their dates of birth.
The decision follows a probe by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), which determined that the real ages of Birke Haylom, Melknat Wudu and Medina Eisa could not be conclusively verified when the records were set between 2023 and 2024.
The ruling means several outstanding under-20 performances by the trio will no longer stand as official world junior records.
Among the affected marks are Haylom’s world under-20 bests in the mile (4:17.13), indoor 1,500 metres (3:58.43) and outdoor 5,000 metres (14:23.71). Wudu’s junior indoor 3,000 metres record of 8:32.34 has also been invalidated, while Eisa’s 5,000 metres time of 14:21.89—previously recognised as the world junior best—has been struck from the record books.
Investigators confirmed that Eisa’s actual birth date is 17 October 2002, rather than 3 January 2005 as previously documented. The finding means she was 22 when she won gold in the 5,000 metres at the 2024 World Under-20 Championships, well above the age limit for the junior category.
The AIU also concluded that Haylom was older than indicated in her official documents, although details of the discrepancy were not publicly disclosed. In Wudu’s case, unresolved doubts about her birth date prevented the ratification of her record.
Under championship rules, athletes competing in under-20 events must be 19 or younger during the competition year and must provide verifiable documentation confirming their eligibility.
While the athletes’ performances remain valid as competition results, they cannot be recognised as junior records.
The investigation forms part of a wider age-verification campaign by the AIU in East African athletics ahead of the next 2026 World Under-20 Championships in the United States.
So far, World Athletics has not announced disciplinary sanctions against the athletes, although AIU regulations allow bans of between two and four years in proven cases of age manipulation.
The removal of the five records marks a significant setback for performances that had previously placed the runners among the most promising young talents in global distance running.
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The Future Olympian Athletics Classic has been rescheduled from the first quarter of 2026 to the last quarter of the year, as organisers move to transform the meet into a truly national developmental programme spanning Nigeria’s six geopolitical zones.
In a statement signed by Bruce Ijirigho, a former quarter-miler and Team Nigeria captain to the 1976 Summer Olympics, the postponement was described as a strategic decision aimed at broadening participation and ensuring that young talents across the country are discovered and nurtured systematically.
The competition is being organised by the Youth Sports Renaissance Foundation (YSRF), a non-profit organisation registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission by Ijirigho, Godwin Obasogie and Charlton Ehizuelen. The foundation’s primary objective is to revive athletics, particularly at the secondary school level, and rebuild Nigeria’s once-thriving grassroots sports culture.
Ijirigho, who serves as Project Lead, explained that the initiative is not about creating something entirely new but about restoring a proven system that once produced champions.
“This competition is not about reinventing the wheel,” he said. “It is about bringing back the culture that ensured that my contemporaries and I were discovered early in secondary school, received the right coaching and academic support, and went on to earn scholarships while combining sports with education. Many of us later became national, continental and global champions.”
He identified early exposure and modern, age-appropriate coaching as the missing links in youth development across Nigeria and much of Africa.
“The bane of sports in Nigeria and many African countries is that our youth don’t get opportunities early enough and lack modern coaching techniques that accelerate their development,” Ijirigho stated.
According to him, the Future Olympian Athletics Classic will go beyond competition by incorporating international coaching clinics designed to transfer contemporary skills and knowledge to Games masters and grassroots coaches nationwide.
“The Classic will not only discover talents in their early teens but also upgrade the capacity of our coaches. That way, we will nurture them properly to become Olympians and world beaters in their late teens and early twenties. This programme is strictly for high school students because it is developmental.”
The decision to expand the event to all six geopolitical zones, he noted, reflects a commitment to inclusivity and equal opportunity.
“Talents abound in every nook and cranny of the country. There are middle- and long-distance runners, sprinters, quarter-milers, jumpers and hurdlers who were either not discovered at all or discovered too late. With this postponement, we can widen the tent and give every Nigerian child a fair chance.”
Ijirigho expressed confidence that with proper planning and sustained grassroots investment, Nigeria can reclaim its place at the summit of global athletics.
“We have what it takes to dominate athletics worldwide. All we need is to get our development programme right. The Future Olympian Athletics Classic will lay that foundation for our youth and for the country when it begins in the last quarter of 2026.”
With its expanded national scope and emphasis on structured youth development, the initiative signals a renewed push to reposition Nigerian athletics for long-term global success.
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