I Almost Quit Athletics Before Becoming World Champion - Tobi Amusan

Tobi Amusan

The current World, Commonwealth and African champion in the 100 m hurdles, Tobi Amusan, has disclosed that she almost gave up on Athletics and planned to go back to school before becoming World Champion.

Last year, the 25-year-old athlete became the first Nigerian world champion in athletics, when she won the 2022 World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12secs in the semi-final, followed by a 12.06secs in the final.

She also won gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, before retaining her Diamond League Trophy in Zurich in a new meet record of 12.29secs.

Tobi Amusan stated that prior to her record-breaking year (2022) she was always coming fourth and it felt so tiring. She stated that she feels people can still do something great when they feel it's over.

In a chat with Justin Tuckey, the Ogun-born hurdler said winning the World Championships 100m hurdles gold medal at the World Championships in Oregon was a turning point in her career. She also stated that she had made up her mind to dump athletics and go back to school.

“That was the moment of ‘did I just do that?’. But yes, it was months, years, and a crazy amount of training and hard work that people saw in 12secs. Sweat, tears, heartbreaks and on the verge of quitting literally every other year. You know seeing it unfold at that moment, with my coach in the stands was just ‘ma we did it’, you know it was just crazy,” Amusan said.

“That year, I was like if something doesn’t go right… And I felt like it was what actually got me into doing my Masters because I was looking forward to what if the season doesn’t go right? In as much as we want to do great things, God approves whatever thing we want to do, but then it’s more of I’ve been putting in the work and showing up every year and it was just fourth, fourth, so I was just tired,” Amusan added.

“It was a moment of God, you can still do something even when you’re broken and you feel like it’s over, because 2022 was supposed to be like my quit year.

“I mean if God doesn’t want to show up I can as well do something with my energy. So, it was just the moment I wanted to quit and God just showed up miraculously, so it was a huge moment for myself, my coach, my family and everyone who supported me.”