Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan (born 23 April 1997) is a

Nigerian Nigerians or the Nigerian people are citizens of Nigeria or people with ancestry from Nigeria. The name Nigeria was taken from the Niger River running through the country. This name was allegedly coined in the late 19th century by British jour ...

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete who specialises in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

and also competes as a sprinter. She is the current

World In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, Commonwealth and African champion in the 100 m hurdles, as well as the meet record holder in those three competitions. Amusan became the first ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100 m hurdles gold medal, setting the current

world record A world record is usually the best global and most important performance that is ever recorded and officially verified in a specific skill, sport, or other kind of activity. The book ''Guinness World Records'' and other world records organization ...

of 12.12 seconds in the semifinal, followed up by a wind-assisted 12.06 s in the final. She won back to back Commonwealth and African titles in 2018 and 2022 in the 100 m hurdles and is also a two-time

African Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union (AU) with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa (A ...

champion in the event. In 2015, Amusan took gold in the 100 m hurdles at the African Junior Championships and the same year, as an 18-year-old, secured her first title at the

. In 2021, Amusan became the first Nigerian athlete to win a Diamond League title as she took the 100 m hurdles trophy, breaking the then African record held by Glory Alozie in the process. She retained her title in

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

Early life and education

Tobi Amusan was born on April 23, 1997, in

Ijebu Ode Ijebu-Ode is a town in Ogun State, South Western geopolitical zone in Nigeria, close to the A121 highway. The city is located 110 km by road north-east of Lagos; it is within of the Atlantic Ocean in the eastern part of Ogun State and p ...

Ogun State Ogun State is a state in southwestern Nigeria. Created on 3 February 1976 from the former Western State. Ogun State borders Lagos State to the south, Oyo State and Osun State to the north, Ondo State to the east, and the Republic of Benin to th ...

, Nigeria, to Mr and Mrs. Amusan who are school teachers. Tobi, as she is fondly called, is the last child of three siblings. She had her Secondary School Education at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School, Ijebu Ode.

Career

From an early age, Amusan was an accomplished athlete. She was 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 ...

silver medallist at the 2013 African Youth Championships held in

Warri The city of Warri is an oil hub within South-South Nigeria and houses an annex of the Delta State Government House. Warri City is one of the major hubs of the petroleum industry in Nigeria. Warri and her twin city, Uvwie are the commercial ...

. A year later, she took her first major medal in the

, which was also silver, at the

African Youth Games The African Youth Games is an international multi-sport event held every four years to complement the current Africa Games. The first games was hosted by Rabat, Morocco. This international sportive event has been created by Lassana Palenfo, cu ...

. She then claimed gold in the event at the

2015 African Junior Athletics Championships The 2015 African Junior Athletics Championships was the twelfth edition of the biennial, continental athletics tournament for African athletes aged 19 years or younger. It was held at the Addis Ababa Stadium in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from 5–8 Ma ...

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; am, አዲስ አበባ, , new flower ; also known as , lit. "natural spring" in Oromo), is the capital and largest city of Ethiopia. It is also served as major administrative center of the Oromia Region. In the 2007 census, t ...

. Also in 2015, while making her All-Africa Games debut as an eighteen year old, she won the gold medal in the 100 m hurdles.

2016

In 2016, as a freshman for the

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stud ...

(UTEP), Amusan became the second athlete for the university to be named

C-USA Conference USA (C-USA or CUSA) is an intercollegiate athletic conference whose current member institutions are located within the Southern United States. The conference participates in the NCAA's Division I in all sports. C-USA's offices are ...

Female Track athlete of the Year since UTEP joined C-USA. She was the gold medallist in both the 100 m hurdles and the 200 m. She also claimed a silver in the long jump at the C-USA Championships. Amusan first broke the 13 s barrier in the hurdles with a time of 12.83 s at the El Paso UTEP Invitational. This eclipsed Kim Turner's

UTEP The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public research university in El Paso, Texas. It is a member of the University of Texas System. UTEP is the second-largest university in the United States to have a majority Mexican American stu ...

record which had stood for 33 years. She was runner-up at the 2016 NCAA Outdoor Championships in the 100 m hurdles. She ran a windy 12.79 s behind Kentucky's

Jasmine Camacho-Quinn Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (born August 21, 1996) is a Puerto Rican track and field athlete who specializes in the 100 metres hurdles. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, she became the first Puerto Rican of Afro-Latino descent and the second person repre ...

. Amusan also competed at the 2016 World Junior Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland. Despite running her second fastest time ever, she placed fifth in the final. She went on to represent Nigeria at the Rio Olympic Games, reaching the semifinals of the 100 m hurdles.

2017

In her first outdoor race of 2017, she ran a then lifetime best and UTEP record of 12.63 s in the 100 m hurdles. She was the C-USA champion in her specialist event and also the runner up in the 200 m. At the 2017 NCAA Outdoor Championships, there was a reversal of finishes in the 100 m hurdles. In a dramatic race, Amusan claimed the title ahead of Camacho-Quinn who was the champion the previous year. She did this in a personal record time of 12.57 s. She also represented Nigeria at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in London later in the year.

2018: Commonwealth and African champion

Amusan ran a personal best of 7.89 s in the 60 m hurdles at the start of her 2018 season. She went on to represent her country at the Birmingham World Indoor Championships reaching the final in the event. At the 2018 Commonwealth Games in

Gold Coast Gold Coast may refer to: Places Africa * Gold Coast (region), in West Africa, which was made up of the following colonies, before being established as the independent nation of Ghana: ** Portuguese Gold Coast (Portuguese, 1482–1642) ** Dutch G ...

, Australia, 2015 world champion Danielle Williams seemed to be the favourite to take the title in the absence of

Sally Pearson Sally Pearson, OAM (née McLellan; born 19 September 1986) is an Australian former athlete. She is the 2011 and 2017 World champion and 2012 Olympic champion in the 100 metres hurdles. She also won a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at t ...

. In the final however, Amusan moved ahead of her competitors and won the race by a clear metre ahead of Williams. She also won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay with her teammates, Joy Udo-Gabriel, Blessing Okagbare and Rosemary Chukwuma. Later in the year, she won her first African Championship title in her signature event at the Asaba African Championships. This fulfilled a Nigerian tradition being 11th gold for Nigeria in the 100 m hurdles since Judy Bell-Gam triumphed at the inaugural edition of the championships in

1979 Events January * January 1 ** United Nations Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim heralds the start of the '' International Year of the Child''. Many musicians donate to the '' Music for UNICEF Concert'' fund, among them ABBA, who write the so ...

. She also claimed a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the championships.

2019: Second African Games title

In August, the 22-year-old successfully defended her

title. On 5 October at the

Doha Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the count ...

, Qatar, she ran a personal best of 12.48 s during the 100 m hurdles qualifying rounds. In the semi-finals the following day, she equaled this personal best before placing fourth a few hours later in the final with a time of 12.49 s.

2021: First Nigerian Diamond League champion

Amusan finished again fourth at the delayed

2020 Tokyo Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the List of Olympic Games h ...

with a time of 12.60 s. She later competed in the

Zürich , neighboring_municipalities = Adliswil, Dübendorf, Fällanden, Kilchberg, Maur, Oberengstringen, Opfikon, Regensdorf, Rümlang, Schlieren, Stallikon, Uitikon, Urdorf, Wallisellen, Zollikon , twintowns = Kunming, San Francisco Zürich ...

Diamond League final event, which she won in a new African record of 12.42 s, breaking 23-years-old best of 12.44 s held by her compatriot Glory Alozie and becoming the first Nigerian to win a Diamond League trophy.

2022: World, Commonwealth, African and Diamond League champion

In June, Amusan defended her 100 m hurdles title at the African Championships in

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label= Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It ...

with a time of 12.57 s. She also competed in the women's 4 × 100 m relay to earn second gold medal. The same month, she lowered her African record in her specialist event with a 12.41 s clocking, when winning at the Diamond League meet in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. The 25-year-old entered the

World Athletics Championships The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

held in Eugene, Oregon in July as a medal contender after back-to-back fourth-place finishes. In the heats she again bettered her African record with a time of 12.40 s, improving by a further 0.01 s. In the semifinal, Amusan set a new world record of 12.12 seconds, breaking the previous best of 12.20 s set by American

Kendra Harrison Kendra "Keni" Harrison (born September 18, 1992) is an American hurdler. Harrison set the world record in the women's 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.20 seconds on July 22, 2016 at the London Müller Anniversary Games, breaking the world re ...

in 2016. She bested her time once again in the final, running 12.06 s (2.5 m/s wind assisted, thus not a legal WR), becoming the first Nigeria's world champion at the

and world record holder in an athletics event. In August at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the exce ...

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, Amusan successfully defended her title, winning her second consecutive gold medal in the 100 m hurdles with a new Games record of 12.30 s. She also helped power Nigeria's women's 4 × 100 m relay team to gold. She competed in her specialist event at the

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR ...

Diamond Race meet later that month, finishing second with a time of 12.60 s, behind reigning Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn. Amusan wrapped up her long and successful 2022 campaign by winning 100 m hurdles at the Zürich Diamond League final event with a 12.29 s performance to retain her title. She finished ahead of Lolo Jones, Britany Anderson, and Camacho-Quinn in fourth, setting a new meet record in the process.

Personal life

She's close friends with fellow Nigerian athlete

Ese Brume Ese Brume Member of the Order of the Niger, MON (born 20 January 1996) is a Nigerians, Nigerian Sport of athletics, athlete who specializes in the long jump. She is the current commonwealth champion and a three-time African senior champion in t ...

Achievements

International competitions

Circuit win and titles

* Diamond League champion 100 m hurdles: Diamond blue

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

:: 100 m hurdles wins, other events specified in parenthesis :*

: Zürich Weltklasse () :*

: Paris Meeting (AR), Zürich ()

National and NCAA titles

* Nigerian Championships ** 100 m hurdles: 2021, 2022 ** 4 × 100 m relay: 2022 * NCAA Division I Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championships ** 100 m hurdles:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Personal bests

Awards and honours

;2022 *

Confederation of African Athletics The Confederation of African Athletics (CAA; French: ''Confédération Africaine d'Athlétisme'') is the continental association for the sport of athletics in Africa. It is headquartered in Dakar, Senegal. It organises the African Championships in ...

Female Athlete of the Year

References

External links

* * * * *
Oluwatobiloba Amusan
at All-Athletics {{DEFAULTSORT:Amusan, Tobi 1997 births Living people People from Ijebu Ode Nigerian female sprinters Nigerian female hurdlers Olympic female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 African Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2019 African Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Summer Youth Olympics Yoruba sportswomen Sportspeople from Ogun State African Championships in Athletics winners Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Diamond League winners World Athletics record holders