Nigerian Swimmer Finishes First In Heat, Breaks National Record, But Fails To Qualify For Semi Finals

Nigerian Swimmer Finishes First In Heat, Breaks National Record, But Fails To Qualify For Semi Finals

Akan Anwankwo
updated at April 12, 2023 at 7:46 PM
  • Habibat Abiola Ogunbanwo is the current Nigerian Fastest swimmer after breaking the national record at the Tokyo Games
  • The 17-year-old returned a time of 59.74sec to break Ngozi Monu's 14-year record in the women's 100meters freestyle
  • The teenager had also broken another national record in the 200meters freestyle swimming back in May in a recognized competition

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Habibat Abiola Ogunbanwo got to the finish line first in the women's 100metres freestyle in the swimming event of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.

How Ogunbanwo became a national hero

It was her first appearance in an Olympic tournament as she recorded a time of 59.74sec to break the national record in Heat 1.

The 17-year-old broke the longstanding record of Ngozi Monu who finished in the time of 1:00.50 back in 2007.

Nigerian swimmer finishes first in heat, breaks national record, but fails to qualify for semi finals
Habibat Abiola Ogunbanwo is a national hero after breaking a 14-year record in the women's 100m freestyle event at Tokyo 2020 Games. Photo by Making of Champions.
Source: UGC

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However, Ogunbanwo failed to qualify into the semi-finals as her time was ranked 48th after all six Heat have been conducted.

Despite not making it through among the top 16 athletes for the semis, the youngster will be building on her performance at the Tokyo Games.

The teenager was born in Canberra, Australia, before moving to Kazan, Russia to live on a FINA swimming scholarship program designed for promising athletes.

Ogunbanwo had earlier broken the 200meters national record back in May when she returned a time of 2:13.17sec.

She told Legit.ng after breaking the national record: "I have no words right now, I'm just very grateful to the Nigerian federation for the opportunity to be part of this whole experience."

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Meanwhile, Legit.ng had earlier reported that Team Nigeria men's basketball team has been condemned to their second straight defeat at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games on Wednesday, July 28 as reported by Vanguard newspaper.

D'Tigers put up a really good fight from the first to the third quarter but let down their guards in the fourth and this defeat leaves their chances of making it to the next round very slim.

Coach Mike Brown's men lost the first lap of the match with just three points - with the Germans beating them 24-21 in the first 10 minutes.

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Akan Anwankwo photo
Akan Anwankwo
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