TOBI AMUSAN, THE GOLDEN LADY AFFIRMS – WHEN GOD SAYS IT’S YOUR TIME, IT’S YOUR TIME

The golden lady, Tobi Amusan recently gave Nigerians something to celebrate and rejoice about. Her record smashing victory at the World Athletics Championship created a sharp deviation from the not too good news items which had characterized the social media for some time. It was also a relief from the “cross-firing” of the “Batified, the “Obedient” and the “Articulate”. For the first time in months, Nigerians were on the same page where religion, tribe and primordial sentiments were thrashed. All Nigerians were unanimous in the celebration as the tall ebony lady created an atmosphere of celebration from the gloomy atmosphere orchestrated by the effects of bandits and religious extremists. It is the type of time that many Nigerians crave for as it enveloped the negativities atleast for a moment. The country’s national anthem was played at the World Athletics Championships for the first time ever and the emotional outburst of the engineer of the celebration became contagious sending waves of emotions to well meaning Nigerians wherever they were on the face of the earth. .

ValidViewNetwork reports that the tears of joy which flooded the determined face of Amusan as she stood on the top step of the podium at Hayward Field on the historic day watered  a new wave of determination in many Nigerians across different spheres of life reinvigorating the Nigerian spirit.

The journey of Tobi Amusan to becoming a world record holder and a world champion in the 100m hurdles is a reflection of providence, commitment and perseverance. The fact remains that there were many “Tobi Amusans” that the Nigerian system had exterminated. There were many “Tobi Amusans” that were not known beyond their Secondary Schools. There were many talents that were never nurtured to growth.

ValidViewNetwork recalls that inter school sport activities which used to be an avenue for “catch them young” are no longer in place in most states of the Federation and sport facilities are not available therefore making  many talents to die before they are discovered.

  From being a soccer player at Our Lady of Apostles Secondary School in Ogun state, Nigeria, she shifted to track events leading the team and her disappointment in other track events shifted her focus to where her golden crown is situated and today she is the best among her contemporaries all over the world.

“I used to be on the soccer team, but I would be all over the place on the pitch,” Amusan said.

“My coach suggested I go try out on the track team and I became the fastest girl on the team, and that’s how I got on the school relay team.”

ValidViewNetwork recalls that the developmental stage of Amusan was a period in the history of Ogun State that Sports was given priority therefore stimulating the interest of the youths leading to discovery of talents.

She went on to make the national squad for the 2013 Africa Youth Games in Nigeria, but she missed out on a place on the relay team and went on to win a bronze in the long jump instead.

ValidViewNetwork is of the opinion that the Coaches in Nigeria can produce champions if they are given the necessary support and facilities and they avoid any form of sentiment.

Competing over hurdles was another unexpected switch in Amusan’s journey to stardom and eventually she was able to break into the senior stage.

According to her “The officials were always picking who they wanted in the relay team. Sometimes they would say I didn’t have the experience so they would pick whoever was their favourite,”

“It was a lot of pressure on a young athlete. I considered quitting. I really wanted to travel with the senior national team and some coaches told me to try the hurdles.”

“The typical Nigerian approach is to make you feel like you cannot make it,”

“I wasn’t expected to win medal at those Games. There were so many voices saying I couldn’t but I used that to show that I could – and that title changed my life.

“That’s how I got a scholarships to the United States. I can say that’s really when my athletics career began. I never dreamt of going to the United States. I just wanted to run fast and be one of the Nigerian greats.”

ValidViewNetwork reports that the scholarship provided the necessary exposure and facilities needed for the emerging champion contrary to the Nigeria system where she had to struggle to fix a lot of things.

Since moving to attend the University of Texas, El Paso, Amusan witnessed a drastic improvement.

She won gold in the 100m hurdles at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, and later the same year took her first African Championships title on home soil in Asaba.

Tobi was pained that she was not winning medals at major global events, finishing fourth at the World Championships in Doha three years ago and then again in Tokyo last year.

Recalling her horrible experiences in the profession, Tobi stated that “2019 was tough because I remember running the fastest time in the qualification rounds, around the same time in the semi-finals and the same time in the final,”

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“I ran so fast but wasn’t fast enough to get a medal. I was broken, I was devastated. That was one of the most horrible experiences.

In 2016 ,  she had tweeted  “Unknown now but soon I will be unforgettable, I will persist until I succeed.”

A confirmation of her perseverance, she was a fourth-placed finisher at both the 2019 World Athletics Championships and the delayed 2020 Tokyo Olympics but was never deterred. She kept pushing and pushing and eventually she has boldly written her name in gold.

Tobi did not only emerge as the best but her best was classical as she ran a time of 12.12 seconds – shaving almost a tenth of a second off the previous world record – in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Oregon before going on to win gold in the final. It was classical!

She had the hurdles of her family to cross before crossing that of the field. With a father who would not see running as a venture and an environment which generally perceive sports as a catalyst to going astray particularly for females, the hurdles were more than the field hurdles. There were discouragements but her determination swallowed the discouragements.

She had told BBC Sport  Africa, “My parents are both teachers, they are strict disciplinarians,” “When you grow up in such a family, they feel you should focus on school. And being a female, they think you are going to go astray, lose focus and all of that.

“But because my mum saw what I didn’t see in myself, she felt she could give me a chance. And she kept telling me not to disappoint her.

“My mum would tell my dad I was going to church while I sneaked to practice or tell him I was going to a school debate while I went to an out-of-state competition. That’s where it all started.

“My dad got really mad one time when he found out I was running. He burned all my training gear and told my mum that’s the last time he wanted to see me in a stadium.”

ValidViewNetwork reports that the father is happy and grateful to Almighty God for the turn of events and has asked people to disregard the comment by Michael Johnson on the timing of the race.

In the thick of the euphoria of the unprecedented achievement, the golden lady stated

“Trusting myself just made everything easier. I’m thankful to the man above for keeping me healthy. When God says it’s your time, it’s your time.”

ValidViewNetwork posits that truly it takes a healthy man to run let alone cross hurdles and emerge winner.

Aside from picking a cheque of $100,000 for her blistering showing in Oregon, Tobi has put smiles on the faces of Nigerians and proved to the world that something good can still come from Nigeria even in the midst of the challenges.

ValidViiewNetwork hopes that the achievement of Tobi Amusan will spur the Nigeria government at various levels to be committed to the sport industry.