By Kehinde Olusegun
Mary Onyali-Omagbemi, former Nigerian sprinter was born on February 3,1968 in Adamawa State, Nigeria. Mary took the name Omagbemi, when she got married to Victor Omagbemi a fellow athlete. Her consecutive Olympic appearances from 1988 to 2004 made her the first Nigerian to compete at five consecutive Olympics games.
Mary Onyali-Omagbemi truly made a name for herself in the track and field world. Popularly called the ‘Queen of Nigerian sprints’, she won the bronze medal in 4×100 metres relay at the 1992 summer Olympics in Barcelona and in 200 metres at the 1996 summer Olympics in Atlanta. She also won the 1994 common wealth 100m title, took silver in the 200m and was part of the winning quartet in the 4x100m relay. In the All-Africa games, she performed exceptionally well by winning a total of 7 individual medals in the short sprints; She took a bronze medal in the 100m and gold in the 200m at the all Africa games in Nairobi in 1987, won the 100metres in 1991, 100m and 200 m in the 1995 and 2003 games She got a scholarship to attend Texas Southern University(TSU) from 1985 -1990 where she was a member of the university women’s track and field team winning many individual and 4x100metres relay titles and was inducted into the TSU hall of fame in 1996.
Her father died when she was young, so it was the duty of her mother to take care of her and her younger siblings, a sister and two brothers. Being that she was the oldest child in the family, much of the responsibilities were upon her.
Her mother constantly emphasized on the importance of education. In Nigeria , the social norm for the female was everything, athletics was not considered as one. A woman was to be educated, eventually work and focus on marriage and having a family. Mary Onyali did not want to succumb to the pressure of the social norm, she found herself going against the rules of the norm. In her elementary school, she participated in sport. She had the attitude of always competing and also proving to be the best.
Mary continued track and field once she reached the high school. She was inspired by her high school coach, who quickly recognised her phenomenal talent; she became the school team captain and started to look at athletics from a whole different perspective.
She competed in the long jump high jump and track events and was winning all through. At this level, she not only realized that she was enjoying it but also that she was good at it. She began to love the competition and the pleasure of winning. She developed love for this and it started affecting her studies. When her mother realised this, she threatened to discontinue her participation in sport. Mary wouldn’t let it happen. Knowing that she loved running and was able to compete, she would do everything to save it. She had to convince her mother that could carve out a career out of sport.
After her high school, she continued to run, having this hope that one day, she would get news of college scholarship. She competed and won the junior category scholarships and also competed in the senior category as a junior and won. She was chosen to represent Nigeria in Ghana in 1983, as her first international competition, after that year, she began to receive even more recognition and the opportunity to showcase her talent.
From then on, she was recognized as the Nigerian girl, who never quit but was very likely to stay. And she did.
