Tobi Amusan broke down in tears as the Nigerian national anthem was played in Oregon, USA Monday morning (Nigerian time).
She was on the podium, not as number three or number two. She was number one.
She had just emerged winner in the 100m hurdles, winning in 12.06secs to become the first Nigerian world champion ever.
She beat favourite Jamaica’s Britany Anderson (12.23secs) to silver, while Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn (Puerto Rico), who also finished in 12.23secs claimed bronze, after a photo-finish separated she and Anderson.
But the 25-year-old had already shown the world signs of what to come in the semi-finals when she clocked an extraordinary 12.12secs to smash the former world record of 12.20secs held by Keni Harrison of the United States since 2016.
Amusan became world champion in an even faster time (12.06secs) in the final later in the day at Hayward Field, but it didn’t count toward records due to a hefty tailwind. Her journey to global reckoning has been quite astonishing.
Though African and Commonwealth champion, breaking several records on the way, she never cut it at the global stage, where it mattered most.
At last year’s Olympic Games in Tokyo, she missed out on a podium finish after coming fourth in the final, despite some eye-catching performances in the heats to the final. At the previous Games in Rio, Brazil she ended up in 14th position, after reaching the semi-finals.
At her previous appearances at the World Championships 2017 and 2019, she finished 14th and fourth respectively.
Some even tagged her ‘the nearly woman’ following the near misses. But the athlete never gave up. She believed in herself and her abilities.
On November 7, 2016 she wrote on Twitter, “Unknown now, but soon I will be UNFORGETTABLE…I will persist until I SUCCEED.”
That was six years ago, but it was just a matter of time before she surmounted the 10 hurdles before her to global prominence
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