Olayinka Olajide won three medals, the highest by any Nigerian at the athletics event of the 2023 African Games to announce herself as the latest speedster in Nigeria and Africa.
Bronze in the 100m women, Silver in the 200m women, and gold in the women’s 4X100m relay gave her the honour of three medals at her debut African Games.
AJ Gold Strikes Gold in Accra
Running in her first African Games, and first 100m final where she became the first Nigerian athlete to qualify for the final of her event in Athletics at the 2023 African Games.
Olajide got to the line in 11.46s (-1.5), getting the qualification needed to secure a place in the 100m women’s final.
Also, in the 100m women’s event, Olayinka became the first Nigerian woman to get a podium finish over 100m at the African Games in 12 years.
Olayinka clocked a Personal Best (PB) of 23.18s (-2.6) to finish 2nd in the women’s 200m final at the African Games. She now has a complete set of medals: 100m, 200m and, 4x100m.
She came off the bend in 3rd but maintained composure and closed down hard on Gina Bass who won in 23.14s.
Fondly called AJ Gold from her days at FUNAAB(Federal University of Agriculture Abeokuta), Olayinka was part of the quartet featuring Tobi Amusan, Moferahan Abinusawa, and Justina Eyakpobeyan to win the 4X100m women gold.
(Photo by Monirul Bhuiyan / AFP)
Olayinka Olajide: Nigerian Trials As First Notice
In the semis, Olayinka Olajide upped the stakes, posting a new PB of 11.32s and extended her dominance to the final, running the fastest time by a Nigerian woman this year, to take the women’s 100m title at the MTN CHAMPS/AFN National Trials with a new PB of 11.19s.
Furthermore, the time is a massive improvement from the 11.37s she ran last month in Lagos
Similarly, Olayinka Olajide was a class apart from the rest of the women’s 200m field and set new PBs in every race she ran.
She started with 23.31s to win her heat, then posted the fastest time overall in the semis, shaving off 0.04s from her previous time.
Up next, she won the final in yet another PB of 23.24s to claim her second GOLD medal.
Meanwhile, Precious Nzeakor was 2nd in 23.51s (PB), and Chisom Onyebuchi 3rd with her 24.00s (PB) time.