Chioma Ajunwa

Chioma Ajunwa in our words

Chioma was born as Chioma Ajunwa-Opara on the 25th of December 1970 in Umuihiokwu Imo State, she is a Nigerian former athlete who centres more in the long jump and later became an officer with the Nigerian Police Force.

Chioma is the last child in a family of 9 comprising of six brothers and two sisters, she is a member of Committee on the Revival of the Nigeria Academic Sports Competition and also the Chairperson of the women’s Development Committee of Imo State Football Association. She was awarded with a national award by the Head of state of Nigeria Sani Abacha as a Member of the Order of the Niger (MON).

She features as a track and field athlete and centres in the 100m, 200m, and long jump, she participated at the 1990 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 100 meters relay and competed at the African Championships in 1989 and the year 1991 in All Africa Games winning gold medals in the long jump.

Ajunwa was the first Nigerian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics held in Atlanta featuring in Track & Field event as she scaled height in the women’s long jump with a jump of 7.12 meters in the final heat.

From Umuihiokwu to the Falcons

Chioma Ajunwa was born on Christmas Day 1970 in Umuihiokwu, Imo State, the youngest of nine children. After her father died, her mother raised the family alone, and money was too short for university. Sport became her path: she played in attack for Nigeria’s women’s football team at the 1991 FIFA Women’s World Cup, though she spent most of it on the bench, while also sprinting and jumping for Nigeria.

A ban and a comeback

In 1992 she was banned for four years after a failed drug test, a ruling she always contested. She returned in 1996 with a single goal: the Atlanta Olympics.

Atlanta, 1996

In the long jump final she flew 7.12 metres on her first attempt, and no one could match it. She became the first Nigerian to win an individual Olympic gold and the first black African woman to win Olympic gold in a field event. Days later Nigeria’s Dream Team won football gold, making Atlanta 1996 the country’s greatest Games.

After the Games

Ajunwa was made a Member of the Order of the Niger, joined the Nigeria Police Force, where she rose to Assistant Commissioner of Police, and in 2017 set up her own foundation to develop young athletes. She has also campaigned against doping in sport.