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| Born | 25 December 1970 Umuihiokwu, Nigeria | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Chioma Ajunwa-Opara, MON, OLY (born 25 December 1970) – also known as Chioma Ajunwa – is a Nigerian former track and field athlete and football player, notable for being the first Nigerian to win Olympic gold at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta,[1][2] and the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event.[3] A member of the Nigerian Police Force,[4] Ajunwa remains the only woman to compete at both the FIFA Women's World Cup as a footballer and the Olympics as a track and field athlete.[5]
In December 2017, Ajunwa launched the Chioma Ajunwa-Okpara Foundation to discover new Nigerian stars in sports.[6] The Foundation, in collaboration with the Abia State government, sponsored an Under-16 Athletics Championship for Secondary Schools in March 2018.[7]
- ^ Nigeria's Historic Olympian: Chioma Ajunwa Opara, Nigeria's only individual Olympic gold medalist and a national hero. - CNN
- ^ "Chioma Ajunwa Biography and Statistics". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 14 October 2009.
- ^ Nigeria's Historic Olympian: Chioma Ajunwa Opara, Nigeria's only individual Olympic gold medalist and a national hero. - CNN
- ^ Chioma Ajunwa-Opara: From Olympics Success to Busting Crime
- ^ From Grass To Olympic Gold – The Inspiring Story Of Chioma Ajunwa
- ^ "Ajunwa-Okpara now ACP, seeks support for Foundation". The Sun Nigeria. 13 December 2017. Retrieved 29 September 2020.
- ^ Udeajah, Gordi (20 March 2018). "Abia hosts first Chioma Ajunwa Foundation U-16 Athletics Championships this weekend". The Guardian.