Maria Usifo (born 1 August 1964) is

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 ...

n athlete and former Olympian who represented

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

(1984) and

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

(1988)

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

. She specialized in the

100 100 or one hundred (Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 and preceding 101. In medieval contexts, it may be described as the short hundred or five score in order to differentiate the English and Germanic use of "hundred" to de ...

and

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. She is one of the female athletes in Nigerian sports history who dominated athletic events both at national and international levels.

Career in sports

Usifo started her career in sports in Nigeria in the 1970s when the school sports system was functional. She was a former hurdler and quarter-miler whose athletic opened opportunities for her to choose from 10 foreign universities after her outstanding performance at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia in 1982. She participated in the Olympic Games in Los Angeles in 1984 and Seoul in 1988. Usifo was All-Africa Games Gold medallist and African Championships Gold medallist.

International competitions

* 1989 African Championships - gold medal (400 m h) * 1988 African Championships - gold medal (100 m h) * 1988 African Championships - gold medal (400 m h) * 1985 African Championships - gold medal (100 m h) * 1985 African Championships - silver medal (400 m h) * 1984 African Championships - gold medal (100 m h)

References

External links

* 1964 births Living people Nigerian female hurdlers Olympic athletes for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for Nigeria African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Commonwealth Games competitors for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1987 All-Africa Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade bronze medalists for Nigeria 20th-century Nigerian women {{Nigeria-athletics-bio-stub