Gold Belongs to Them: Nigerian Women Sweep Again in Accra

BY ROSEMARY UGIOMOH

Team Nigeria walked away from the African Athletics Championships with three gold medals, and every single one came from the women.

The headline moment was the women’s 4x100m relay Rosemary Nwankwo, Jennifer Obi Chukwuka, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Miracle Ezechukwu ran 42.94s to take gold and set a new Championship Record. Liberia pushed hard for silver, and Ghana grabbed bronze in front of their home crowd at the University of Ghana Stadium. With an exceptional double by Patience Okon George.

That win keeps Nigeria on top of a run they started back in 2008 when they knocked Ghana off in Addis Ababa. Since then, Africa’s sprint relay has belonged to Nigeria with only one slip-up in between.

It fits a pattern that’s hard to ignore. At the last Solidarity Games, Nigerian women led the medal count. In Tokyo for the World Championships, they delivered the country’s standout performances. And at the previous Commonwealth Games, they swept all 12 gold medals Nigeria won. When the pressure is on, the women deliver.

The men’s 4x100m relay had a different story. They came close again, but finished with another near miss while the women celebrated another chapter in their dominance.