- Olusoji Fasuba
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Olusoji Fasuba Personal information Nationality Nigerian Born 9 July 1984 Height 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) Weight 70 kg (150 lb) Sport Sport Running Achievements and titles Personal best(s) 100m: 9.85
200m: 20.52Medal recordMen’s Athletics Competitor for 
NigeriaOlympic Games Bronze 2004 Athens 4x100 m relay World Indoor Championships Gold 2008 Valencia 60 m All-Africa Games Gold 2007 Algiers 100 m Gold 2007 Algiers 4x100 m Afro-Asian Games Gold 2003 Hyderabad 100 m Olusoji Adetokunbo Fasuba (born 9 July 1984) is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres.[1] He is the current African record holder in the event with 9.85 seconds.
He was a member of the Nigerian bronze medal winning team in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2004 Olympic Games. The same year he won the African Championships on 100 metres. He won the silver medal at the 2006 Commonwealth Games behind Asafa Powell[2] and was the indoor world champion over 60 metres in 2008, becoming the first African to complete the feat.
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Early life
Fasuba was born in Sapele, Delta State in Nigeria, the eldest of three children. Sprinting was part of his family life as his mother, a Jamaican, was a runner in her youth and is the cousin of Don Quarrie, a 200 metres Olympic gold medallist. His parents encouraged him to run from a young age and he was so fast that secondary schools would ask him to compete for them, even though he was of primary school age. Furthermore, he was a proficient football, volleyball or basketball player and, as a result, he managed to attend Merit More Secondary School through an athletics scholarship. He dominated the school's athletics events, winning not only the sprint events but also the high jump and long jump.[3] Fasuba continued his studies at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife but found the work difficult. Encouraged by his mother, he decided to leave the education system in favour of athletics, his foremost passion.[4]
Athletics career
Fasuba had his breakthrough year in 2003, starting with the 2003 national trials. He was selected for the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics and finished fourth with the Nigerian team. Fasuba closed the year with a win in the 100 m at the inaugural Afro-Asian Games. In 2004, he went on to win at the 2004 African Championships in Athletics, and won his first major medal a few months later – an Olympic bronze medal as part of the 4×100 m relay team at the 2004 Athens Olympics. The following year he competed in the 100 and 200 m at the World Championships, but failed to reach either final.
In early 2006 he finished fifth at the World Indoor Championships and second at the Commonwealth Games. He then established a new African record with 9.85 seconds from the Doha Grand Prix in May, breaking Frankie Fredericks' old record of 9.86 s from 1996, Fasuba's run was remarkable as he is almost a foot shorter than many other sprinters, he is thought to have one of the fastest footspeeds in athletics. Despite having injury problems throughout the season, Fasuba defended his regional title at the 2006 African Championships. For his 2006 achievements the The Athletics Federation of Nigeria chose him as the Nigerian Male Athlete of the Year.[5]
He won two gold medals at the 2007 All-Africa Games, winning in the 100 m and 4×100 m relay. However, the occasion was marred by calls for him to be banned from the Nigerian team following a misunderstanding: Fasuba had planned to celebrate with the Nigerian flag but he had to abandon the celebration after he was called to take a drugs test.[6] On 26 August 2007, he finished fourth in the 100 m at the 2007 World Championships with 10.07 s. Fasuba won the World Indoor Championships 60 m sprint on 8 March 2008 in a time of 6.51 s. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing he competed at the 100 m and placed second in his heat after Tyson Gay in a time of 10.29 s. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.21 seconds. However, he was unable to qualify for the semi-finals as he finished in fourth place after Richard Thompson, Gay and Martial Mbandjock.[1]
Fasuba was entered into the 100 m at the 2009 World Championships, but his performance was modest and he was eliminated in the second round after running 10.25 seconds.[7] After a poor start to 2010, he was not selected to defend his 60 m title at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships as Sunday Bada of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria stated he was not in form.[8]
Personal life
Fasuba is the first child of Olumide and Evelyn Fasuba, and has a younger brother (Kayode) and a younger sister (Yinka). He met Ngozi Nwokocha, an 400 metres runner, at his first national athletics training camp in 2003 and they are now married.[3][4]
Achievements
Last updated April 2009
Having beaten Frank Fredericks' previous mark, Fasuba is the 100 m African record holder with 9.85 s. Furthermore, this places him as the ninth fastest 100 m runner ever and the fastest runner outside of the NACAC area.[9] He also has the third fastest time by an African runner in the 60 metres with 6.49 s; only Leonard Myles-Mills and fellow Nigerian Deji Aliu have run faster.[10]
Personal bests
Event Time (seconds) Location Date 50 metres 5.76 s Liévin, France 28 February 2004 60 metres 6.49 s Stuttgart, Germany 3 February 2007 100 metres 9.85 s Doha, Qatar 12 May 2006 200 metres 20.52 s Brussels, Belgium 3 September 2004 - All information taken from IAAF profile.[11]
References
- ^ a b Athlete biography: Olusoji Fasuba, beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 26, 2008
- ^ Vazel, P-J (2006-05-16). Take nothing for granted Asafa and Justin, Olu Fasuba has hit the big time!. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-03-20.
- ^ a b Resume. Olusoji Fasuba official website. Retrieved on 2009-04-16.
- ^ a b Carole Fuchs and Dare Esan (2008-08-03). Focus on Athletes - Olusoji Fasuba. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-04-16.
- ^ Negash, Elshadai (2006-12-10). "Fasuba, Otonye are Nigerian athletes of the year". IAAF. http://www.iaaf.org/news/Kind=131072/newsId=37032.html. Retrieved 2009-04-16.
- ^ Broadbent, Rick (2008-05-09). Olusoji Fasuba's difficult race for recognition. The Times. Retrieved on 2009-05-06.
- ^ Ramsak, Bob (2009-08-15). Event Report - Men's 100m - Quarter-Final. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-08-16.
- ^ Odigbo, Uzor (2010-03-08). Fasuba Missed Doha Because He Wasn’t In Form – Bada. Daily Independent. Retrieved on 2010-03-20.
- ^ 100 Metres All Time. IAAF (2008-11-20). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.
- ^ 60 Metres All Time. IAAF (2009-03-08). Retrieved on 2009-04-09.
- ^ Biography Fasuba Olusoji A.. IAAF. Retrieved on 2009-04-09.
External links
World Indoor Champions in Men's 60 m 1985: Ben Johnson (CAN) • 1987: Lee McRae (USA) • 1989: Andrés Simón (CUB) • 1991: Andre Cason (USA) • 1993 – 1995: Bruny Surin (CAN) • 1997: Haralabos Papadias (GRE) • 1999: Maurice Greene (USA) • 2001: Tim Harden (USA) • 2003: Justin Gatlin (USA) • 2004: Jason Gardener (GBR) • 2006: Leonard Scott (USA) • 2008: Olusoji Fasuba (NGR) • 2010: Dwain Chambers (GBR)
All-Africa Games Champions in Men's 100 m 1965: Gaoussou Koné (CIV) • 1973: Ohene Karikari (GHA) • 1978: Amadou Meité (CIV) • 1987: Chidi Imoh (NGR) • 1991: Frankie Fredericks (NAM) • 1995: Davidson Ezinwa (NGR) • 1999: Leonard Myles-Mills (GHA) • 2003: Deji Aliu (NGR) • 2007: Olusoji Fasuba (NGR) • 2011: Amr Seoud (EGY)
Categories:- 1984 births
- Living people
- Nigerian sprinters
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Nigeria
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria
- Commonwealth Games competitors for Nigeria
- Olympic bronze medalists for Nigeria
- Olympic medalists in athletics (track and field)
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