31. Nigeria women’s national basketball gets to World Cup quarter-final
The women's basketball team, D’Tigress, made it to the world cup in Spain and bowing out in the quarterfinals after losing 71-40 to USA., and eventually finished in 8th place in the classification matches.
32. Nigeria has won all medal categories in Olympic football
Nigeria is the first African country to win three medals in the football event. The team won gold in 1996; silver in 2008, and bronze in 2016.
33. Falcons reached a World Cup quarter-final in 1999
They are the first African women’s team to have reached the quarterfinals of the FIFA Women’s World Cup in 1999. Having not won a match in their previous two visits, the Falcons beat North Korea 2-1 to kick off their campaign, before dispatching Denmark and progress to the quarter-final where they faced Brazil. The Brazilians went 3-0 up in 35 minutes, but the Falcons fought back to level the score. They eventually succumbed to a 104th-minute golden goal. The team has not gone as far ever since.
34. lfeajuna won a High Jump a gold medal at the 1954 Commonwealth Games
The late Emmanuel lfeajuna won a gold medal in the High Jump event at the 1954 Commonwealth Games.
35. Bassey has crowned World Featherweight champions in 1957
Hogan ‘Kid’ Bassey became the World Featherweight Boxing king in 1957. Hogan was the first Nigeria-British-born boxer to become world boxing champions after he shed his blood to win a featherweight bout in 1957 in Liverpool.
36. Ikhouria won a bronze at the 1972 Olympic Games
Isaac Ikhouria won bronze competing in the light heavyweight class at the Olympic Games in 1972. He defeated Gilberto Carrillo, Cuba, on all the judge’s scorecards to win the Olympic bronze medal.
37. 5 Nigerians won gold at the 1983 World Universities Games
The 1983 World University Games in Edmonton, Canada gave birth to world-beaters. There was Sunday Uti, in the 400m, Yusuf Ali, in the long jump, Ajayi Agbebaku in the triple jump, Egbunike in the 200m, and Chidi Imoh, in the 100m. All five won gold to kick start fulfilling athletic careers for both country and American universities.
38. Nigeria came in 8th at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Nigeria finished with 11 gold, 11 silver, and 14 bronze medals at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, finishing in the eighth position, their highest since they started attending the Games.
39. Andeh claims world amateur boxing title in 1979
In 1979, Davidson Andeh became the first and only Nigerian to win the World Amateur Lightweight boxing championship fight against a Russian opponent, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
40. Quarter milers hit gold despite silver finish in the 2000 Olympics
The quarter-mile relay quartet at the 2000 Sydney Olympic games – Sunday Bada, Jude Monye, Clement Chukwu, and Enefiok Udo Obong did not win their final race but 12 years after one of the American runners was disqualified following a failed dope test.
41. Two-time champions in Beach Soccer
Nigeria has won the Africa Beach Soccer Championship twice. The Sand Eagles won the tournament in 2007 and 2009. They were runners-up in 2006 and 2011. The team was a bronze winner in 2015 and came fourth in 2013.
42. Quadri named ITTF’s best in 2014
Aruna Quadri was named the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF) star player in 2014. He has also been voted the Best Male player ahead of then world number one, China’s Xu Xin.
43. Oshoala was named the best player at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup
Asisat Oshoala was named best player and was the highest goal scorer at the 2014 FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, where she scored seven goals – the highlight being a four-goal haul in the 6-2 semi-final win over North Korea. Nigeria lost 1-0 to Germany in the final, but the Barcelona star had already made her mark.
44. D’Tigers qualify for the Olympics
Nigeria’s male national basketball team – D’Tigers were the first African nation to ever qualify for the summer Olympics through the FIBA World Olympic Qualifying tournament, and this feat was achieved in 2012.
45. CHAN Eagles’ comeback against Morocco in 2014
The Stephen Keshi-coached home-based Super Eagles performed a minor miracle in the African Nations Championship [CHAN] tournament held in South Africa in 2014 when the team came from a 3-0 deficit to beat Morocco 4-3 after extra time. Aliyu Ibrahim, a substitute, completed the turnaround when he scored his team’s fourth goal in the 11th minute of extra time.
46. Nigeria’s 4×400 relay quartet made history in 1984
Nigeria won its first-ever Athletics Olympic medal at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games in the 400m relay event. The quartet of Innocent Egbunike, Sunday Uti, Moses Ugbisie, and Rotimi Peters won the bronze in an Africa record time of 2:59.32.
47. Egbunike became the first medal winner at WAC
Innocent Egbunike became the first Nigerian athlete to win any medal at a World Athletics Championship in 1987 in Rome. Also, his Nigerian record of 44.17s in the 400m still standstill today.
48. Onyali attended 5 consecutive Olympic Games
Mary Onyali, for many years Nigeria’s sprint queen, attended the Olympic Games on five consecutive occasions. Onyali became the first Nigerian [and African] to achieve the feat in 2004, her fifth consecutive appearance since 1988, where she competed in the 100m, 200m, and the 4X100m relay race.
49. Toriola attended 7 consecutive Olympic Games
Segun Toriola, the grand-daddy of Nigerian table tennis, is the only African, and Nigerian, across all sports, to have taken part in seven different Olympic Games–from 1992 in Barcelona till the Beijing Olympics in 2008 where Toriola achieved his best finish – progression to the third round. Toriola, now 46, was ranked the No.1 player in Africa for 10 consecutive years – between 1998 and 2008.
50. Oduamadi scores hat trick against Tahiti
Nnamdi Oduamadi represented Nigeria at the 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil and achieved the feat of becoming the only Nigerian to have scored a hat trick in a FIFA senior tournament. The former AC Milan prodigy scored in the 10th, 26th, and 76th minutes to help Nigeria to a 6-1 victory over the Islanders.
51. Fasuba set the existing 100m African record in 2006
Olusoji Fasuba set the record of 9.85s from the Doha Grand Prix in May 2006, thus breaking Frankie Fredericks’ record of 9.86 set in 1996. That record remains Africa’s fastest time to date. He was part of the Nigerian quartet that won bronze in the 4x100m relay at the 2004 Olympics.
52. Okagbare ended a 14-year IAAF Championship drought in 2013
Nigeria’s participation at the IAAF World championship had become a fallow ground from 1999 when Gloria Alozie won silver in the women’s 100m hurdles, and Francis Obikwelu got a bronze in the men’s 200m in Spain until 2013 when Blessing Okagbare won silver and bronze medals in the long jump and 200 meters events, respectively.
53. Osimhen sets record at a FIFA U-17 tournament
Victor Osimhen was part of the Nigerian U-17 team to the 2015 FIFA U-17 World Cup in Chile. The lanky forward set a record of scoring 10 goals to win the Golden Boot. He also won the Silver Ball award. He has since become an established forward for the Super Eagles and recently moved to Serie A to join Napoli for a multi-million-dollar transfer.
54. Adekuoroye claims first-ever African Silver Medal
Odunayo Adekuoroye, a wrestler from Ondo state in Nigeria, became the first-ever African female wrestler to win a medal at the World Wrestling Championship event in Paris in 2017, in France. The 26-year-old had in 2014 won gold at the Commonwealth Games. She has become the No.1 ranked women’s freestyle 55 kg wrestler by United World Wrestling (UWW).
55. Okagbare writes her name in Diamond league history books
In 2015, Blessing Okagbare recorded her name in the Guinness Book of Records for appearing in the Diamond League for the most time – 38, competing in the 100m, 200m, and long jump events.
56. Kehinde breaks records at the 2016 Rio Olympics Games
Paul Kehinde, a Nigerian Powerlifter, twice, broke the men’s 65kg World Record at the 2016 Rio Games, to win the gold medal. The Powerlifter then lifted a whopping 220 kg to break the world record he held. He was decorated with the Member of the Order of the Niger [MON] award by the Nigerian government in 2016.
57. Fan attendance at the 1980 AFCON final
Nigeria’s Super Eagles entered the 1980 Nations Cup final as host and top bet to claim their first title and on hand to witness the memorable occasion was over 100,000 spectators, that included the President, Shehu Shagari, at the National Stadium, Lagos. The number of fans is still the record for a sporting event in Nigeria.
58. Okwaraji slumps and dies at the National Stadium
This was a tragedy, but it is an iconic moment in the history of sports in Nigeria. Samuel Okwaraji, a midfielder for the national team, collapsed and died before they could resuscitate him. He slumped in the center of the pitch in the 77th minute of a FIFA World Cup qualification encounter against Angola on August 12, 1989. An autopsy conducted revealed the 25-year-old had an enlarged heart and high blood pressure.
59. Nigeria achieved Group 1 status in Davis Cup in 1988
The Nigeria Davis Cup team was two matches away from qualifying for the World group in 1988 as they reached the Group I semifinals in 1988 and 1989. The country now competes in Africa Zone Group III.
60. Amokachi subs himself into a match
The circumstances are foggy but Super Eagles legendary forward, Daniel Amokachi, wrote himself into football, Everton, and FA Cup history books on April 9, 1995, at Elland Road in a FA Cup semi-final match against Tottenham. “Daniel wandered onto the pitch, the fourth official held up the board, and that was it,” Joe Royle, Everton manager said afterward, before adding that it was “the best substitution I ever made.” Everton won the match 4-1 and claimed the FA Cup trophy that season.
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