Nigerian sprinter Olayinka Olajide is thrilled after reaching her targets in her rookie season ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympics.
After honing her skills at several sports events, Olajide made her mark during the sports Federation of Nigeria trials for the 2023 African Games in Asaba, Delta State, in February, winning the women’s 100m title with a personal best of 11.19 seconds.
Since then, the 21-year-old has not looked back, winning medals in every competition in which she has represented Nigeria in the last three months, as well as making the AFN’s 35-athlete squad for the Olympic Games.
“Coming into my debut season, I wrote my goals down before it started and I feel blessed to say that I’ve surpassed it,” Olajide added
“My confidence was 100 per cent. I always believe that athletics is a game you win or lose and I was always ready for whatever results I got in any competition.”
After winning the 100m title in Asaba, Olajide went on to claim all shades of medals at the African Games in Ghana.
She won bronze in the women’s 100m, silver in the 200m and capped it with gold in the women’s 4x100m, running the second leg in the quartet that also had Justina Eyakpobeyan, Moforehan Abinusawa and Tobi Amusan.
She reproduced her relay exploits for Nigeria during the World Relays in the Bahamas, where the women’s 4x100m team sealed their ticket to the Paris Olympics Games before adding the African Championships gold in the same event last month in Cameroon.
Ahead of the Olympics, Olajide believes the efforts of her coach will keep yielding results as Team Nigeria prepare for their training camp in Germany.
“I trust my coach so much, I never doubted his efforts before the beginning of the season. So, I’m not surprised with the results.
“For the Olympics, I will still trust the process and let God continue writing the story.”
