Innocent Ejima Egbunike (born 30 November 1961) is a former sprinter from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He studied at Azusa Pacific University, where he still holds the school record at 400 metres and the automatically timed NAIA meet record at 200 metres.

Medals

At the 1985 Summer Universiade he won the 400 metres. At the regional level he won the

1987 All-Africa Games The 4th All-Africa Games were played from August 1, 1987, to August 12, 1987, in Nairobi, Kenya. 42 countries participated in fourteen sports. From the beginning the intent had been to hold the African Games every four years. Economic difficulti ...

as well as three gold medals at the African Championships. He won an Olympic bronze medal in

4 x 400 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

in Los Angeles 1984. He finished sixth in the final of the individual 400 metres contest. Four years later in Seoul he placed fifth. In addition he won a silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1987 World Championships. He also won the gold medal in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

at the

1983 Summer Universiade The 1983 Summer Universiade, also known as the 1983 World University Games or XII Summer Universiade, took place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between July 1 and 12, 1983. Over 2400 athletes from 73 countries participated. It was the first time Can ...

with a personal best of 20.42 seconds; he followed this by finishing 6th in a world class field in the 200 metre final at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki. He also won the Soviet 100 metres in 1983.

Post athletics

After retiring from competition he became a coach. He was coach of the Nigerian track and field team at the 1996 and

2000 Summer Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

, and head coach at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He was coach of

Angelo Taylor Angelo F. Taylor (born December 29, 1978) is an American track and field athlete, coach, and winner of 400-meter hurdles at the 2000 and 2008 Summer Olympics, who has been suspended by the United States Center for SafeSport for sexual miscon ...

, the gold medalist in the 400m hurdles at the 2008 Summer Olympics, coach of Chris Brown, the fourth-place finisher in the 400m at the 2008 Summer Olympic Games. Egbunike is currently the head coach of Pasadena City College's track and field team.

Achievements

Personal bests

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

- 10.15 s (1984) *

- 20.42 s (1983) * 400 metres - 44.17 s (1987) - Commonwealth Record until the 2012 Olympic final *

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since t ...

- 1.51.1 min (1986)

Personal life

Egbunike is good friends with former Kansas City Chiefs' running back Christian Okoye and met him when they were both training for Nigeria's national track and field team. While at Asuza Pacific, he told coaches about Okoye's ability in the discus and they decided to offer Okoye a scholarship for track and field.

References

External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Egbunike, Innocent 1961 births Living people Nigerian male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Nigeria Olympic bronze medalists for Nigeria Azusa Pacific University alumni Place of birth missing (living people) World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 All-Africa Games Universiade gold medalists for Nigeria Medalists at the 1983 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 1985 Summer Universiade