Chioma Ajunwa

Chioma Ajunwa
Full name	Chioma Ajunwa-Opara
nation	Nigeria
birthday	25th December 1971 (age 48)
place of birth	Umuihiokwu , Nigeria
size	164 cm
Weight	57 kg
job	policewoman
Career
discipline	Long jump
Best performance	7.12 m
status	resigned
End of career	June 10, 2002
Medal table
Olympic games 1 × 0 × 0 × Indoor world championships 0 × 1 × 0 × Commonwealth Games 0 × 0 × 1 × African Championships 3 × 0 × 0 ×
Olympic games gold Atlanta 1996 7.12 m  Indoor world championships silver Paris 1997 6.80 m  Commonwealth Games bronze Auckland 1990 4 × 100 m  Africa Games gold Cairo 1991 6.67 m gold Cairo 1991 4 × 100 m  African Championships gold Lagos 1989 6.53 m gold Cairo 1990 6.13 m silver Cairo 1990 100 m gold Dakar 1998 6.78 m
last change: June 20, 2020

Chioma Ajunwa-Opara (born December 25, 1971 in Umuihiokwu as Chiona Ajunwa ) is a former Nigerian athlete who specialized in the long jump , but also competed in the sprint . In 1996 she won the first ever Olympic gold medal for Nigeria and was also the first black African woman to win gold in a technical competition in athletics. In addition to athletics, she was also active as a footballer in the Nigerian national team.

Athletic career

Chioma Ajunwa probably gained her first international experience in 1989 when she won the gold medal in the long jump at the African Championships in her home country Lagos with a distance of 6.53 m. The following year she finished fourth at the Commonwealth Games in Auckland with 6.48 m and won the bronze medal in 44.67 s as the final runner of the Nigerian 4 x 100 meter relay . She then defended her title in the long jump at the African Championships in Cairo with 6.13 m and won the silver medal behind her compatriot Onyinye Chikezie in the 100-meter run in 11.63 s . In August she reached fifth place at the Junior World Championships in Plovdiv with 6.46 m. In 1991 she won the African Games in Cairo with 6.67 m in the long jump and in 44.21 s with the Nigerian relay. In the same year she took part with the Nigerian team in the women's soccer world championship , but was eliminated there in the preliminary round. On June 11, 1992, she was tested positive in a doping test and then banned for four years.

After her suspension had expired, she immediately qualified for the Olympic Games in Atlanta in 1996 , where she set a new African record with 7.12 in the final , winning ten centimeters over the Italian Fiona May . She also took part over 100 meters and was eliminated there with a new best of 11.14 s in the semifinals . In addition, she reached fifth place with the relay in 42.56 s. The following year, she won the silver medal behind the Italian May at the World Indoor Championships in Paris with a jump of 6.80 m and was fourth in the 60-meter run in 7.19 s. In August she reached the semi-finals at the World Championships in Athens with over 100 meters and was eliminated there with 11.41 s, while she took twelfth place in the long jump with 5.21 m in the final. In the season she came in the lead-up and helped the team to reach the finals. In 1998 she won again at the African Championships in Dakar with a new championship record of 6.78 m. At the African Games in Johannesburg in 1999 she failed to make a valid attempt and in 2001 she missed the final at the World Championships in Edmonton, Canada with 6.43 m as 15th of the qualification, but reached fourth place in the relay in 42.52 s. In 2002 she was convicted of doping again, after which she ended her career at the age of 30.

In 1996, 1999 and 2001 Ajunwa became Nigerian champion in the long jump.

Life

Chioma Ajunwa comes from a poor family and grew up as the youngest child of eight siblings in Imo State , but was born in neighboring Anambra . She completed elementary school and later secondary school and was admitted to a university, which she was unable to attend due to a lack of financial means. She is married and has three children. After her track and field career, she worked for the Nigerian police.

Despite her double ban for doping, Ajunwa campaigned together with the Nigerian Athletics Association (AFN) against the use of illicit drugs in sports at the Yaba College of Technology in Lagos. In the same year, in cooperation with AFN, she started a campaign entitled Compete Fair & Clean , which is aimed directly at athletes and trainers. Since 2011 she has also been the chairperson of the Development Committee of the Imo State Football Association.

Personal best

• 100 meters: 11.14 s (+0.4 m / s), July 27, 1996 in Atlanta
  • 50 meters (hall): 6.04 s, February 22, 1998 in Liévin ( African record )
  • 60 meters (hall): 7.02 s, February 22, 1998 in Liévin ( Nigerian record )
• 200 meters: 23.05 s (−1.5 m / s), September 16, 1996 in Tokyo
• Long jump: 7.12 m (+0.9 m / s), August 2, 1998 in Atlanta ( African record )
  • Long jump (hall): 6.97 m, February 5, 1997 in Erfurt ( Africa record )

Honors

• Member of the Order of Niger (1996): Awarded by President Sani Abacha after her Olympic victory .
• Golden Jubilee Independence Awards (2010): Awarded by President Goodluck Jonathan on the occasion of Nigeria's 50th anniversary .
• Imo State Chiefs (2011)

literature

• Peter Matthews (ed.): Athletics 2002 , Worcester 2002, ISBN 1-899807-13-6

Web links

• Chioma Ajunwa in the database of World Athletics (English)
• Chioma Ajunwa in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )
• Biography at nigeriagalleria.com