For the very first time in Nigeria’s history, the country secured not just a medal but gold in the Commonwealth Games Women’s Discus event.
Reigning African champion, Chioma Onyekwere was the history maker on Tuesday night at the Alexandra Stadium in Birmingham as her Season’s Best throw of 61.70m was good enough to earn her the top spot.
Though she was ranked second among the throwers on parade ahead of the final, Chioma Onyekwere proved the bookmakers wrong; beating the fans’ favourite to the gold medal.
Aside from Onyekwere’s gold, the current national champion, Obiageri Amaechi, also got on the podium, clinching the bronze medal in this event.
The two medals won on Tuesday night are the first set of medals Nigeria will win in Athletics at the ongoing Games in Birmingham.
It is expected that more medals will be raked in on Day 2 of the Athletics event, with so many finals lined up for Wednesday.
Meanwhile, unlike Monday when Team Nigeria had just one bronze medal to show for their efforts, Tuesday was much better with Nigeria winning all three shades of medals, gold silver, and bronze.
In all, Team Nigeria at the end of Day 5 now has eight medals; three gold, one silver, and four bronze but have dropped to the 10th spot on the medals tables.
Australia still leads the medals chart with a total of 86 medals – 34 gold, 24 silver, and 28 bronze, while the hosts, England are second with 27 gold, 28 silver, and 17 bronze with a total of 72 medals.
Chioma Chukwujindu “CiCi” Onyekwere (born June 28, 1994 in Lansing, Michigan) is an American-born Nigerian track and field athlete specializing in the discus throw.
Chioma Onyekwere has competed in the shotput and discus throw both on the collegiate level and internationally representing Nigeria and holds the Nigerian National Record for the discus throw.
Her personal best of 63.30 meters for the Discus throw was achieved in 2021.
She has been recognized for her academic achievement as a student athlete at the University of Maryland for four years by the Big Ten and the ACC while serving as one of the team’s captains.
Her collegiate honors include All-American recognition, All-Big Ten honors, All-Academic Big Ten, 5 Big Ten Conference Medals, and Solomon Eye Terp of the Week recipient.
She won a gold medal for the Discus Throw at the 2018 African Championships in Asaba, Nigeria.
She won another gold medal for the Discus Throw at the 2019 African Games in Rabat, Morocco.
