Muizat Ajoke Odumosu Alademerin (born 27 October 1987 in

Lagos Lagos (Nigerian English: ; ) is the largest city in Nigeria and the List of cities in Africa by population, second most populous city in Africa, with a population of 15.4 million as of 2015 within the city proper. Lagos was the national ca ...

) is a Nigerian

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 events ...

athlete who specialises in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

and the

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 represented Nigeria at the

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

and competed at the

World Championships in Athletics 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 ...

in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. She was the bronze medallist at the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games took place between 11 and 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers is the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were held there. Besides Algeria, only Nige ...

and went on to become the continental champion with a win at the 2008 and 2012 African Championships. In 2010, she won the gold medal in the 400 metres hurdles 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 ...

, and was runner-up at the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports clubs. List of Championships ;Athletics *African Championships in Ath ...

and also took a silver medal for Africa at the Continental Cup. She still holds the Nigerian record in the 400 m hurdles, after improving on her personal best to 54.40 seconds during the 2012 London Olympics semi-finals.

Early life

Born in

, Odumosu attended Toybat High school before moving to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

to study at the

University of South Alabama The University of South Alabama (USA) is a public research university in Mobile, Alabama. It was created by the Alabama Legislature in May, 1963, and replaced existing extension programs operated in Mobile by the University of Alabama. The first ...

Athletics career

College athletics

At the University of South Alabama, Odumosu represented the college's South Alabama Jaguars team, she was the 400 m

Sun Belt Conference The Sun Belt Conference (SBC) is a collegiate athletic conference that has been affiliated with the NCAA's Division I since 1976. Originally a non-football conference, the Sun Belt began sponsoring football in 2001. Its football teams participa ...

champion in 2004 but missed most of the 2004–05 season due to injury. In 2006, she became the indoor 400 m Sun Belt champion and took a sprint and hurdles double at the outdoor meeting. She reached the NCAA Championships final that year, but was disqualified due to knocking over a hurdle.Ajoke Odumosu Jaguar Biography
USA Jaguars, 11 July 2007; Retrieved 4 September 2010 She improved her personal record to 55.37 seconds to win at the Drake Relays in 2007 – a world-leading mark at that point of the season.

Global competition

Odumosu represented Nigeria internationally for the first time in August 2006, taking part in the World Junior Championships. She finished fifth in the 400 m hurdles final but managed to help the Nigerian women's

4×400 metres relay Four-wheel drive, also called 4×4 ("four by four") or 4WD, refers to a two-axled vehicle drivetrain capable of providing torque to all of its wheels simultaneously. It may be full-time or on-demand, and is typically linked via a transfer case ...

team (including

Folashade Abugan Folashade Abigeal Abugan (born 17 December 1990) is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the 400 metres. She was the 400 m bronze medalist at the 2007 All-Africa Games and improved to the silver medal at the 2008 African Championships, ...

, Joy Eze and Sekinat Adesanyato) the

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

, setting a new African junior record of 3:30.84 for the event. She began competing professionally in 2007 and won the hurdles

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the

Algiers Algiers ( ; ar, الجزائر, al-Jazāʾir; ber, Dzayer, script=Latn; french: Alger, ) is the capital and largest city of Algeria. The city's population at the 2008 Census was 2,988,145Census 14 April 2008: Office National des Statistiques ...

in July. At the 2007 World Championships (her first senior global championships) she ran in the 400 m hurdles, but was eliminated in the heats stage. She reached the top of the continental rankings with a

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 2008 African Championships, taking the hurdles win in 55.92 seconds. She made her first Olympic appearance in August 2008, running the 400 metres sprint in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. She set a personal best 51.39 seconds to progress through the heats, but she was eliminated in the semi-finals. She ran in the 4×400 metres relay and reached the final where the Nigerians finished in seventh placed. At the 2009 World Championships she reached the 400 m hurdles semi-finals and was sixth overall with the women's relay team. She also set a meeting record at the

Ponce Grand Prix The Ponce Grand Prix de Atletismo is a track and field competition held yearly in Ponce, Puerto Rico at the Francisco Montaner Stadium. The event started in 2007, after the successful hosting of the 2006 Ibero-American Championships.Robinson, ...

, where she won in 55.02 seconds. Odumosu set a Nigerian record at the

Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world reco ...

meeting in July 2010, running 54.68 seconds for fifth in the hurdles. She returned to defend her hurdles title at the 2010 African Championships, but she had to content herself with the

behind Hayat Lambarki. She still reached the top of the podium at the competition, however, as she helped the 4×400 m relay team to a

championship record The sports under the umbrella of athletics, particularly track and field, use a variety of statistics. In order to report that information efficiently, numerous abbreviations have grown to be common in the sport. Starting in 1948 by Bert Nelson a ...

of 3:29.26. Along with Lambarki, Odumosu was selected to represent the African team in the 400 m hurdles at the

2010 IAAF Continental Cup The 1st IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field sporting event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations. Originally scheduled as the 11th IAAF World Cup in Athletics, it was renamed in 200 ...

. She improved her national record to 54.59 seconds at the competition and secured the silver medal behind Jamaican

Nickiesha Wilson Nickiesha Wilson (born 28 July 1986 in Kingston) is a hurdler from Jamaica. She competes in the 100 m hurdles and the 400 m hurdles. Currently her 100 m hurdles personal best is 12.79 achieved at Szczecin, Poland in 2009. She ran a personal b ...

, running for the Americas. On 10 October 2010 Odomosu won the gold medal in the 400m hurdles at the

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...

.Commonwealth Games 2010: Greene grabs Wales' first gold
BBC Sport, 10 October 2010

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Odumosu Muizat 1987 births Living people Athletes from Lagos Yoruba sportswomen Nigerian female sprinters Nigerian female hurdlers Olympic athletes for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games South Alabama Jaguars athletes African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games silver medalists for Nigeria African Games bronze medalists for Nigeria Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2011 All-Africa Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 African Games 21st-century Nigerian women Medallists at the 2010 Commonwealth Games