Abdul Karim Ohimai Amu (13 November 1933 – 9 February 2010) was a Nigerian athlete who mainly competed in the 400m and 4 x 100 meters relay. He was a former president of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.

Life

By the age of 17, Amu was already a good athlete. He was educated at King's College where his athletic ability brought national attention. In the Grier Cup held at Ijebu-Ode in 1952, Amu won the 100 and 440 yards. In addition, he played for the King's College hockey team and was a member of Nigerian team in an inter-colonial hockey competition held in the Gold Coast. His first major international competition was the

1954 Commonwealth Games Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The ...

held in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

. He competed in the 100m, 200m and 4 × 100 m relay events and was part of Nigeria's relay team that clocked 41.3 to earn a silver at the games. In the 220 yard, he reached the semi-final. He enrolled at University of Ibadan in 1955. In 1956, he was a member of the

University of Ibadan The University of Ibadan (UI) is a public research university in Ibadan, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1948 as University College Ibadan, one of many colleges within the University of London. It became an independent university in 196 ...

athletic club when he represented Nigeria at the

1956 Summer Olympics The 1956 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XVI Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, from 22 November to 8 December 1956, with the exception of the equestrian events, whi ...

in the 400 and 4 x 100 relay events. Nigeria did not medal at the event and the relay team which was formidable dropped the baton and did not finish. In 1960, he was the vice-captain of the Nigerian athletics team to the

1960 Summer Olympics The 1960 Summer Olympics ( it, Giochi Olimpici estivi del 1960), officially known as the Games of the XVII Olympiad ( it, Giochi della XVII Olimpiade) and commonly known as Rome 1960 ( it, Roma 1960), were an international multi-sport event held ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, once again, he was in the 400m and 4 × 100 m relay team. He reached the semi-finals of the 400m event but the relay team had a baton mixup in the semi-final and did not finish. In 1964, he was captain of the athletics team to the

1964 Summer Olympics The , officially the and commonly known as Tokyo 1964 ( ja, 東京1964), were an international multi-sport event held from 10 to 24 October 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. Tokyo had been awarded the organization of the 1940 Summer Olympics, but this ho ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

. Amu set a national record in the 220 yard dash that lasted for 16 years.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Amu, Abdul Karim 1933 births 2010 deaths Nigerian male sprinters Olympic athletes for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 1956 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1960 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Medallists at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games