Oluwatosin Bamidele “Tosin” Oke (born 1 October 1980 in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
, England) 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 competes in the
triple jump
The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to the long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down th ...
.
Born a dual national, he initially competed for Great Britain. He set the current UK junior indoor record and was 1 cm shy of the outdoor junior record. He was the
1999 European Athletics Junior Championships
The 1999 European Athletics Junior Championships were held in Riga, Latvia
Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links= ...
Champion, and came 5th at the
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...
. After multiple indoor and outdoor UK titles, he later switched to compete for Nigeria. Since competing for Nigeria he has won back-to-back
African Championships in Athletics
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organise ...
titles and 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 ...
championship and is the current
All-Africa Games Champion. At the
2012 Summer Olympics Oke finished seventh in the triple jump final, the best Nigerian result of the Games.
Early life
Oke was born in
Newham
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the ...
, London to Nigerian parents, and later moved to Islington, Hackney and Greenwich where he spent his late teens.
Education
Tosin went to Amhurst Primary School, now called Brook Community School, where he left early to attend Secondary School at
King's College Lagos. After just under 2 years, he returned to London to attend Christ's College, a private School in Blackheath, followed by A-levels at
Thomas Tallis
Thomas Tallis (23 November 1585; also Tallys or Talles) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one ...
sixth form. From there he went on to study Chemistry at the
University of Manchester
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univ ...
, and Osteopathy at the
British School of Osteopathy.
Career
Oke began competing in 1997 for Cambridge Harriers, South-east London. Within 2 years, at age 18, he won the
1999 European Junior Championships with a jump of 16.57 metres, and in the same year jumped the UK indoor junior record of 16.12m, that still stands today. He also finished fifth at the
2002 Commonwealth Games
The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...
and twelfth at the
2002 European Championships. In 2003 he came fourth in the
European Cup.
His 16.65 metres from the 2002 Commonwealth Games was his personal best for many years.
[ In the 2004–05 season he changed coaches to work with John Herbert, the coach of ]Phillips Idowu
Phillips Olaosebikan Idowu, (born 30 December 1978) is a British athlete who specialises in the triple jump. He is a former World Outdoor and Indoor, European Outdoor and Indoor, and Commonwealth triple jump champion. He was also a silver meda ...
and Jade Johnson at the time.
Injury
Between 1999 and 2007, Tosin suffered a multitude of injuries, from a Gilmore's groin, to a fractured fat pad in his foot. They severely hampered his progress, whilst his peers went on to win Olympic medals.
Osaka 2007
In August 2007 he finally set a new personal best, jumping a World Championships B standard of 16.86 metres at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre
The National Sports Centre at Crystal Palace in south London, England is a large sports centre and outdoor athletics stadium. It was opened in 1964 in Crystal Palace Park, close to the site of the former Crystal Palace Exhibition building which ...
.[ He was controversially left out of the British World Championships team for Osaka initially by Dave Collins and further backed up by Niels de Vos. Oke described the decision as, 'dysfunction at best, and very sinister at worst'.
]
Returning home
In 2008, Tosin declared his interest in competing for his country of origin, Nigeria. He also returned to work with his old coach, but set his own schedules, and assumed full control over his training. In 2009 at the Mobil Nigerian National Championships, Tosin jumped a World Championship B standard of 16.65m, and represented Nigeria for the first time at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. At the World Championships he did not reach the final
Final, Finals or The Final may refer to:
*Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event
** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...
, but came 7th in his qualification group achieving a new personal best of 16.87 metres. He finished the year ranked 47th in the world.
Championships success
In the 2010 season, Tosin jumped a series of personal bests indoors, finishing with 16.89m in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1. ...
.[ Outdoors he opened up with a short approach competition at the Loughborough international, and in his second competition broke the ]British Athletics League
The British Athletics League is a men-only track and field team competition in the United Kingdom. For women there is the completely separate UK Women's Athletic League.
Launched in 1969, the British Athletics League in 2013 had five different di ...
record with 17.05m at Copthall, Hendon. In his finest season so far, he went on to win the 2010 African Championships in Nairobi, Kenya with a personal best jump of 17.22m, 1 cm off the Championship record, and to top it off, became the 2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (Hindi: 2010 राष्ट्रमण्डल खेल), officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, was an international multi-sport event that was held in Delhi, India, ...
Champion in New Delhi, India with his second furthest jump ever—17.16m. Oke finished the year ranked 9th in the world.
2011 was an indifferent season for Oke, with many ups and downs. Due to the long 2010 season, Tosin decided to give the indoor circuit a miss. He opened up outdoors in Daegu with a modest 16.74m, and within two Meets jumped 17.14m at the Nigerian National trials, backed up with a 17.20m in Barcelona – where he got injured, and a 17.21m at the Diamond League meeting in London – where he got injured again! Needless to say, with multiple injuries, the World Championships in Daegu was not a happy hunting ground; he jumped 16.60m, came 8th in his qualifying group, but did not make it to the final. Two weeks later, a heavily strapped up Oke, was able to rise to the occasion for his country, and jump a last gasp 16.65m at the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique for the gold medal. After the end of season heroics, Oke finished the season ranked 14th in the world.
Tosin opened up the 2012 Olympic season with a bang, a 17.23m personal best at his National trials in Calabar really signalled his intent for the year ahead. A few days later he went to Porto Novo for the 2012 African Championships in Athletics
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA), the continental association for the sport in Africa. Since its inaugural edition in 1979 it was at first organise ...
, to defend his title. He did so with a 5th round jump of 16.98m a distance he deemed sufficient to retain his title, and make his countrymen proud once again. His next competition was the Diamond League in London, where he came third to Christian Taylor & Leevan Sands
Leevan Sands (born August 16, 1981 Nassau) is a Bahamian triple jumper.
His personal best jump is 17.59 metres, achieved in 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. This is the current Bahamian record and won a bronze medal. He also won bronze medals ...
with a jump of 16.93m in the rain and wind of London.
London 2012 Olympics
Next it was the big one, the 2012 Summer Olympics... Oke was ranked 11th in the world going into this competition, and qualified with relative ease with a jump of 16.83m to come 9th overall in the qualifying round. The final was a different affair, he managed two very different 16.90m+ jumps and was suffering from runway issues due to a recurrence of his hamstring injury from 2011. He came a creditable 7th, but knew the opportunity for an Olympic medal was lost after his great start to the season. In his post event interview, Oke severely criticised the Nigerian team's preparation for the Games, and implicated that his sports administrators were not giving Government released funds to the athletes, something that destroyed the team's chances at the Games. His comments stirred action at the highest level of Nigerian politics; the President Goodluck Jonathan
Goodluck Ebele Azikiwe Jonathan (born 20 November 1957)Lawson Heyford, ''The Source'' (Lagos), 11 December 2006. is a Nigerian politician who served as the President of Nigeria from 2010 to 2015. He lost the 2015 presidential election to fo ...
, ordered an immediate overhaul of the sports sector, and the fallout from Team Nigeria's overall performance at the Games is ongoing. In his next competition, Oke jumped 16.76m in round three, and when he tried to push for the big one, strained his hamstring at take-off. According to him, it had been coming for a while – since April, but he was just trying to manage the problem until after the Olympics. He finished the season ranked 8th in the world, and is due to see the world-renowned Dr.Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt
Hans-Wilhelm Müller-Wohlfahrt (; born 12 August 1942 in Leerhafe, today part of Wittmund, East Frisia) is a German orthopedist. He gained recognition for his roles as Germany national football team doctor (1995–2018) and club doctor of Bayer ...
to solve his hamstring problem.
Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games
2013 started off well with a 16.87m jump indoors, but became Tosin's most injury plagued season culminating in a torn adductor tendon at a competition in the Netherlands. He struggled to get back to full health by the World Championships in Moscow, and reaggravated the injury whilst in Moscow.
The 2014 season saw a return to training in London, with his friend long jumper Matthew (Matt) Burton, an athlete Tosin mentored and coached. He opened the season with his first ever win at a World Challenge competition - Marrakech, and jumped 17.21m in his first round to win his 5th Nigerian national title.
The Commonwealth Games in Glasgow were bittersweet; Tosin aimed to retain his title, but after an hours delay in the start time, and a torrential downpour in round 2, just after the South African Godfrey Mokoena, had taken the lead in calm conditions, a silver medal was the best Tosin could achieve. A few weeks later in Marrakech for the African Championships, Tosin again came second to the South African, for his second major silver that year.
2015 season
A year of positives and not so positives for Tosin. He made his first World Championships final, coming 8th in Beijing, and also retained his All-Africa Games title later on in the year in Brazzaville. On the negative side, his Federation tried their best to scupper his performances by owing him funds, and creating false stories about him in the media. With all of this to contend with, Tosin was still voted the best track and field athlete of 2015 at the Nigerian sports awards.
Rio 2016 Olympics
Tosin started off the season with a solid performance at the Doha Diamond League meeting, and a second place at the Hengeo World Challenge meeting. He won back his African Champs title from Godfrey Mokoena on home soil with a season's best jump of 17.13m. He later got a viral infection just before the London Anniversary Games, and jumped a below par 16.30m.
Next it was Rio. Tosin's worst major championships performance ever came about from having a viral infection just before the games, and being owed thousands of pounds of flight money until 36hrs before the event. Team morale within the Nigerian team was at an all-time low, despite the bronze medal won by the football team. He fared no better for the post Rio competitions, however seemed to be getting better health wise by the last competition of the year in Berlin.
Competition record
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oke, Tosin
1980 births
Living people
Athletes from London
People from the London Borough of Newham
English male triple jumpers
Nigerian male triple jumpers
British male triple jumpers
Olympic male triple jumpers
Olympic athletes of Nigeria
Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games competitors for England
Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria
Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics
Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
African Games gold medalists for Nigeria
African Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 African Games
World Athletics Championships athletes for Nigeria
African Championships in Athletics winners
British Athletics Championships winners
English people of Nigerian descent
English people of Yoruba descent
Yoruba sportspeople
Alumni of the University of Manchester
King's College, Lagos alumni