Team Nigeria in Athletics: Medals and Results

From our archive

Track and field in Nigeria: achievements

Nigeria track and field athletes have produced a large number of medals both in national and international championship events. Below are some of the achievements made by some of the Nigerian athletes;

• Nigerian athletes won a bronze medal at the 1990 Commonwealth Games competing in the 4 x 100m relay.
• Nigeria won gold medals at the 1989 African Championships and 1991 All-African Games competing in the long jump event.

• Nigeria won a gold medal in the Women’s long jump event at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta by her skilful and talented long jumper Chioma Ajunwa.
• Nigeria won a silver medal at the 1997 World Indoor Championships Paris in the women’s long jump event.
• Nigeria won two gold medals at the 2007 All-Africa Games winning in the 100m and 4 x 100m relay through one of their famous track and field athlete Olusoji Fasuba.
• Team Nigeria track and field athletes won a silver medal at the 2008 Olympics Games in Beijing, competing at the 4 x 100m relay event.
• Nigeria professional athlete Blessing Okagbare won three gold medals at the 2010 African Championships Nairobi Kenya competing in the long jump, 100m and 4 x 100m relay. Nigeria’s Dominique Duncan also won a gold medal at the 2009 NCAA Women’s Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships featuring in the 4 x 100m event with a record of 42.36s.

• In the year 2011, Nigeria recorded two gold and silver medals in the 100m, long jump and 4 x 100m event at the All-African Games at Maputo, Mozambique.
• They won gold and a silver medal at the 2012 African Championship in Porto-Novo, Benin Republic.
• In 2013 they won a bronze medal at the World Championship Moscow competing in the 200m race event.
• Nigeria won two gold medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games competing in the women’s 100m and 200m race and also two gold and silver medals at the African Championships held the same year in Marrakesh, Morocco.
• Nigeria team scaled height in gold medals at the 2015 12th African Junior Athletics Championships in Addis Ababa Ethiopia, World Relays in the Bahamas and African Games in Brazzaville, Congo.

• Team Nigeria won a gold and bronze medal respectively in women’s 100m hurdles and 4 x 100m relay at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast Australia.

Checked 29 September 2026

Olympic and world medals

Athletics is Nigeria’s most successful Olympic sport, with 14 medals. Two relay medals were upgraded years later after other teams were disqualified for doping.

World Championships

Checked 30 September 2026

Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games and African Games

Athletics is where Nigeria wins most of its Games medals. The first came in Auckland in 1950, when Joshua Majekodunmi won high jump silver at the Commonwealth Games. Four years later in Vancouver Emmanuel Ifeajuna cleared 2.03m to win the high jump: Nigeria’s first Commonwealth gold, and the first by a black African at a major international competition. At the African Games, Nigeria sits at the top of the all-time athletics table.

The next African Games are in Cairo, Egypt, from 20 January to 7 February 2027. See the full medal stories on our Commonwealth Games and African Games pages.