Paris 2024: Tobi Amusan And The Olympic Dream

The long-awaited Olympic year is finally here. The event, scheduled in Paris between July 26 and August 11, has athletes burning their time on tracks, gathering the right amount of muscle, and fine-tuning their craft. The Olympics, the most appealing sports event globally, is especially significant. The Olympics is where champions are made, dreams are realised, and hopes are renewed.

No athlete goes into the Olympic year without a resolution, however relative. Speaking of neophytes in the sport, the goal is to make the team. For reigning Olympic champions, it is a successful title defence. Between these extremes are athletes with an even more ambitious resolution. These athletes have the national titles and every other global title, saving the Olympic title that was missed from their collection. For this class of athletes, the dream goes beyond making the team to include finishing at the top of the podium. Nigeria’s sprint export, Tobi Amusan, belongs to this class of athletes.

Tobi Amusan is a world-class sprinter in the women’s 100m hurdles. Since winning her maiden global title, the Nigerian-born US-based sprint star has been unrelenting in her pursuit of excellence. Speaking of sprint excellence, Amusan is a four-time African Games champion, a three-time African champion and a two-time Commonwealth Games champion.

In 2023, Amusan made history by becoming the first non-American sprint hurdler, male or female, to win the Diamond League (DL) trophy three consecutive times. Currently, Amusan holds the World Record (WR) in her event, a title she had claimed at Hayward Field, Eugene, OR (USA), having run 12.12 seconds at the semi-finals of the 2022 WC. More than anyone else, the Olympic year is significant in Amusan’s sprint career trajectory.

In the years leading up to it, Amusan rose against all odds, acquiring all that there is to. However, the Olympic title is still missing from the 27-year-old’s collection, for which she now sets out in pursuit.

On January 27, Amusan began her long walk up the podium in Paris at the Astana Indoor Meet in Kazakhstan. Being her season’s opener, one would expect a modest performance from her. Also, one would expect her to finish in the top three since the race is only 60m long, and Amusan is more of a finisher than a starter.

From how she powered through from start to finish, one could tell that she had only picked up from where she left in 2023. Amusan’s start out of the blocks was decent, and she led the race right from the second barrier, moving even further away from the field as the race progressed. In a time of 7.77s, Amusan crossed the finish line to take the win. The first outcome of the race is a Personal Best (PB). The second is overhauling the 25-year-old women’s 60m Area Record (AR) of Glory Alozie set at a time of 7.82s in Madrid.

Four days into the following month, Amusan would later retire her recently set AR at the New Balance Indoor Grand Pix in Boston. This was after she had finished in a time of 7.75s, behind America’s Tia Jones, who took the win in a time of 7.72s.

Following what appears to be a successful indoor tour, Amusan launched her outdoor season at the 13th African Games. Going into the games hosted in Ghana between March 8 and 23, Amusan was declared the favourite to win in her event, and for several reasons. First, Amusan holds the WR, the AR, and the Meet’s Record (MR). Second, Amusan had won the franchise twice, first in Congo Brazzaville in 2015 and second in Rabat in 2019.

She had come for the 2024 circuit as a defending champion and was on the way to a third win. Than anyone on the hurdle field, Amusan is more experienced, in a better form, and even so, of a superior global ranking. So, it was only expected that Amusan would finish with a win, which she did easily and by a mile. In her heat, Amusan jogged 13.03s, a time just enough to secure her a spot in the finals. In 12.89s, Amusan crossed the finish line to take the title for the third consecutive time.

From Ghana, all roads led to China, where Amusan is scheduled for two meets. The two meets, partly with the DL circuit, were slated for April 20 and 27 in Xiamen and Suzhou, respectively. At the Xiamen meet, which is supposedly Amusan’s DL season opener, Amusan didn’t get to have the best race. She had a sluggish start, and the 27-year-old struggled to catch up with a faster field, resulting in a 5th-place finish. But it was only a matter of days before Amusan could redeem herself. Amusan witnessed the most chaotic race of her life at the Suzhou meet, having earned a disqualification for a false start. From behind, she ran down the pack, which she had caught right on the line. However, she didn’t get to take the win, as she proceeded into the race in protest.

Of all the countries Amusan has appeared in the year under review, Jamaica holds a special place in her heart. Amusan has a massive love for Jamaica, of which she has spoken on several occasions. Jamaica is the home of Amusan’s coach, Lacena Golding-Clarke, and the reigning World Champion, Daniel Williams, her favourite person in the hurdle crew. Amusan was very relaxed at the Jamaican Athletics Invitational scheduled for May 11. The 27-year-old crossed the line first in a well-put-together race, clocking a Season’s Best (SB) of 12.40s.

To think that Amusan would lower her SB or at least win her next race would be wrong. The global sprint star failed to replicate the form displayed on the Jamaican field, and she ran a slower time, playing second to America’s Kendra Harrison, who won in 12.69s. At the 2024 Adidas Atlanta City Games, Amusan ran 12.73s. She continued in the form at the Nigerian National Trials, claiming her 4th consecutive national title in an even slower time of 12.78s.

In the years leading up to the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Amusan has relentlessly worked hard to improve her craft, thus deserving of a spot on the Paris podium. But whether she will get the spot can’t be entirely assured, owing to the depth of the women’s sprint hurdles in the last few years.

So far in the Olympic year, the women’s 100m sprint hurdles have witnessed a lot of outstanding performances. Worldwide, women hurdlers in the 100m are running fast times, lowering their PBs. At present, nine women have run faster than Tobi, six of whom are scheduled to compete for the Olympic title in Paris. With the World Lead (WL) being set at 12.25s, there is no doubt that Amusan will have to improve on her SB to be a major contender for gold in Paris.

Whether Amusan will finish on top of the podium in Paris or not depends on her physical and mental health. The hurdle is a highly locomotive sprint event. It requires running, hopping and jumping, which can be carried out only when physically fit. Mostly due to the active bodily movements involved, it is almost impossible to do the sprint hurdles when not in good form. Now that the competition is even more fierce, making it far in a sprint hurdle event requires first being in the best possible shape. So far this year, Amusan has proven to be physically fit. In the year under review, the WR holder has had eight appearances, more than anyone else in the event. Beyond her testament to her physical health, Amusan’s ability to remain competitive despite her many appearances is not only proof of her commitment to set goals. It is, in fact, evidence of the quality of her physical health.

Besides the physical, an athlete’s mental strength goes a long way in determining their potential for a podium finish. Without the right mental attitude, navigating an event, especially one as huge as the Olympics, can be overwhelming. Severally, mental fortitude is linked to excellent sprint performances. Also proven is that efficiency is lost when quality physical health cannot be complemented with quality mental health. In a field as competitive as the women’s 100m hurdles, the ability to perform under duress is crucial. Once in the season under review, Amusan demonstrated the ability to deliver despite adversity. Having falsely started at the Suzhou DL meet, Amusan got disqualified. When everyone had thought she would walk out of the field in admittance of defeat, Amusan instead requested to be allowed to run under protest. She would later cross the finish line first, however, without the win. This one experience proves that the 27-year-old is capable of performing under enormous pressure. Even so, she will be hard to beat, come Paris.

Since her 2024 season’s debut, Amusan has been hardly consistent. Out of eight appearances, the 27-year-old has come out victorious in four. Having been disqualified on the charge of a false start, Amusan lost that which would have been her third. So far in the year under review, Amusan hasn’t run a perfect race. Severally, Amusan has not only had a poor start, but she also has struggled to replicate the brilliant finishes for which she’s well-known. Especially because only through a race perfectly executed can one secure a win in a field as competitive as the Olympics, a question mark is hung over Amusan’s ability to deliver in Paris, where it mostly matters.

But the Paris Olympic Games isn’t Amusan’s first, neither is it her second. The 27-year-old had represented Nigeria at the Rio Olympic Games but couldn’t go beyond the semi-finals. Four years later, Amusan would make the finals at the Tokyo Olympic Games, finishing 4th, just outside the medals. Between 2021 and the year under review, so much has happened. Amusan has a WC title and three DL titles, all while laying claim to the WR in the women’s 100m hurdles. With such an elite profile, one cannot expect Amusan not only to have the physical and mental capacity but also the experience to navigate the rigours of the Olympic field, securing, in the end, the title for which she so dreams.

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Junaid Olaitan

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