The Most Famous

ATHLETES from Nigeria

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This page contains a list of the greatest Nigerian Athletes. The pantheon dataset contains 6,025 Athletes, 52 of which were born in Nigeria. This makes Nigeria the birth place of the 49th most number of Athletes behind Egypt, and Lithuania.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Nigerian Athletes of all time. This list of famous Nigerian Athletes is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography's online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Nigerian Athletes.

Photo of Francis Obikwelu

1. Francis Obikwelu (b. 1978)

With an HPI of 49.20, Francis Obikwelu is the most famous Nigerian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 31 different languages on wikipedia.

Francis Obiorah Obikwelu, GOIH (born 22 November 1978) is a retired Nigerian-born Portuguese sprinter, who specialized in 100 metres and 200 metres. He was the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 metres. In the same race, he set the European record in the event at 9.86 seconds, which stood for nearly 17 years. At club level, he was a professional athlete for Sporting CP.

Photo of Tobi Amusan

2. Tobi Amusan (b. 1997)

With an HPI of 46.11, Tobi Amusan is the 2nd most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 30 different languages.

Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan (born 23 April 1997) is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and also competes as a sprinter. Amusan is the current world record holder in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.12 seconds which she set at the 2022 women's 100 metres hurdles semi-final in Eugene, Oregon. She is the current Commonwealth and African champion in the 100 m hurdles, as well as the meet record holder in those two 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 of 12.12 seconds (+0.9 m/s) in the semi-final, followed up by a 12.06 seconds (+2.5 m/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 champion. She is also the current Diamond league champion in the 100 metres hurdles having won the final in 12.33 seconds (+1.8 m/s) achieving a winning streak in 2021, 2022 and 2023. 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 African Games. 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 and 2023.

Photo of Simon Yates

3. Simon Yates (b. 0)

With an HPI of 45.94, Simon Yates is the 3rd most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Their biography has been translated into 7 different languages.

Simon Yates is the name of: Simon Yates (mountaineer) (born 1963), English mountaineer Simon Yates (golfer) (born 1970), Scottish golfer Simon Yates (cyclist) (born 1992), English cyclist

Photo of Glory Alozie

4. Glory Alozie (b. 1977)

With an HPI of 45.36, Glory Alozie is the 4th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 25 different languages.

Gloria “Glory” Alozie Oluchi (born 30 December 1977) is a former track and field athlete competing mostly in hurdling. Born in Nigeria, she represented her country of birth and Spain. The world junior second placer from 1996, she went on to have a successful senior career, although she has never won a global international event (placing second on five occasions). While representing Nigeria she became African champion twice, and was at a time the African record and Commonwealth record holder at 100 metres hurdles. On 6 July 2001 she officially became a Spanish citizen. She won the gold medal at the 2002 European Athletics Championships the year after. In the 60 meter hurdles, she won the silver medal first at the World Indoor Championships and in 2003 and again in 2006.

Photo of Chioma Ajunwa

5. Chioma Ajunwa (b. 1970)

With an HPI of 43.10, Chioma Ajunwa is the 5th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 29 different languages.

Chioma Ajunwa-Opara (born 25 December 1970) – also known as Chioma Ajunwa – is a Nigerian former track and field athlete and football player, notable for being the first Nigerian to win Olympic gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, and the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event. A member of the Nigerian Police Force, Ajunwa remains the only woman to compete at both the FIFA Women's World Cup as a footballer and the Olympics as a track and field athlete. In December 2017, Ajunwa launched the Chioma Ajunwa-Okpara Foundation to discover new Nigerian stars in sports. The Foundation, in collaboration with the Abia State government, sponsored an Under-16 Athletics Championship for Secondary Schools in March 2018.

Photo of Sunday Bada

6. Sunday Bada (1969 - 2011)

With an HPI of 42.73, Sunday Bada is the 6th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 18 different languages.

Sunday Bada (22 June 1969 – 12 December 2011) was a Nigerian sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres event. He won three medals at the World Indoor Championships, including a gold medal in 1997. His personal best time was 44.63 seconds, and with 45.51 seconds indoor he holds the African indoor record. He set a national record in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2000 Olympics, where the Nigerian team also won gold medals after the disqualification of the US team who had finished first.

Photo of Gloria Kemasuode

7. Gloria Kemasuode (b. 1979)

With an HPI of 42.62, Gloria Kemasuode is the 7th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 19 different languages.

Gloria E. Kemasuode Ubiebor (born 30 December 1979 in Delta State) is a female track and field sprint athlete, who competes internationally for Nigeria. Kemasuode represented Nigeria at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, competing at the 4 x 100 metres relay together with Agnes Osazuwa, Oludamola Osayomi and Ene Franca Idoko. In their first round heat they placed fourth behind Belgium, Great Britain and Brazil. Their time of 43.43 seconds was the best non-directly qualifying time and the sixth time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result they qualified for the final, in which they replaced Osazuwa with Halimat Ismaila. They sprinted to a time of 43.04 seconds, a third place and a bronze medal after Russia and Belgium. In 2016, the Russian team was disqualified and stripped of their gold medal due to doping violations by one of the Russian runners, Yuliya Chermoshanskaya, thereby promoting Nigeria to the silver medal position. Kemasuode failed a drugs test at the Circuito de Corridas e Caminhada in Brazil and was banned from competition for two years over the period of 24 July 2009 – 23 July 2011.

Photo of Mary Onyali-Omagbemi

8. Mary Onyali-Omagbemi (b. 1968)

With an HPI of 41.96, Mary Onyali-Omagbemi is the 8th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Nkemdilim “Mary” Onyali-Omagbemi (née Onyali, born 3 February 1968) is a Nigerian former sprinter, she was a 5x Olympian 1988 - 2004. She had won the bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 1992 Olympic Games and in the 200 m at the 1996 Olympic Games. She also won the 1994 Commonwealth Games 100 metres title.

Photo of Charity Opara

9. Charity Opara (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 41.67, Charity Opara is the 9th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  Her biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Charity Opara-Asonze (born 20 May 1972 in Owerri, Imo State) is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who mainly competed in the 400 metres. She was in particular a successful relay runner, winning the silver medal at the 1996 Olympics. Opara was banned between 1992 and 1996 for a positive drug test.

Photo of Olapade Adeniken

10. Olapade Adeniken (b. 1969)

With an HPI of 41.35, Olapade Adeniken is the 10th most famous Nigerian Athlete.  His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Olapade Charles Adeniken (born 19 August 1969) is a Nigerian former sprinter who specialized in the 100 and 200 metres, and competed at the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1992 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics.

People

Pantheon has 52 people classified as Nigerian athletes born between 1961 and 2004. Of these 52, 51 (98.08%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Nigerian athletes include Francis Obikwelu, Tobi Amusan, and Simon Yates. The most famous deceased Nigerian athletes include Sunday Bada. As of April 2024, 52 new Nigerian athletes have been added to Pantheon including Francis Obikwelu, Tobi Amusan, and Simon Yates.

Living Nigerian Athletes

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Deceased Nigerian Athletes

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Newly Added Nigerian Athletes (2024)

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