Nigerian Athletes

Full Name: Olusoji Adetokumbo Fasuba.
Nickname(s): Soji
Gender: Male
Date of Birth: July 9, 1984 (Age 30.322.).
Birthplace: Sapele Delta, Nigeria
Nationality: Nigeria
Height: 5-8.5 (175 cm)
Weight: 172 lbs (78 kg)



Olusoji Fasuba is one of the fastest sprinters Nigeria has ever produced. Born July 9, 1984, in Sapele , Delta State . Soji, at a relatively young age became a force to be reckoned with in the sporting sector.

Sprinting indeed was part of his family life as his mother, a Jamaican, was a runner in her youth. 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. For his university education, he had a stint at Obafemi Awolowo University in Ile-Ife but found educational work difficult. Encouraged by his mother, he however decided to leave the education system in favour of athletics, his foremost passion

The young lad 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 foot speeds in athletics. Despite having injury problems throughout the season, Fasuba defended his regional title at the 2006 African Championships. For his 2006 achievements the Athletics Federation of Nigeria chose him as the Nigerian Male Athlete of the Year.

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 go for a drug test. On 26 August 2007, he finished fourth in the100 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.

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. 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.

Consequently, 28 year old Olusoji retired from professional running and joined the British Navy sometime 2012 to provide a more settled life for his wife and baby girl. He’s married to 400m runner Ngozi Nwokocha, and they have seven-month-old daughter Annabelle.

Medal record
Men’s Athletics
Competitor for Nigeria
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens 4�100 m relay

World Indoor Championships
Gold medal – first place 2008 Valencia 60 m

All-Africa Games
Gold medal – first place 2007 Algiers 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2007 Algiers 4�100 m
Afro-Asian GamesGold medal – first place 2003 Hyderabad 100 m