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Born | Rivers State | 24 August 1956
Bella Bell-Gam (born August 24, 1956, in Rivers State) is a retired Nigerian pentathlete.
Bell-Gam was born in Opobo Town, Rivers State, she has a twin sister, Judy who was also an athlete. Both sisters attended Government Primary School, Afikpo, Methodist School, Uwani, Enugu and Union Secondary School, Ikot Ekpene. The girls where in Enugu when the Civil War broke out and moved southwards to Nnewi. At the end of the war, Bell-Gam returned to school in Ikot Ekpene. In 1973, she represented her school in high jump at the Hussey Shield and Lady Manuwa competitions. At the 2nd National Sports Festival in 1975, she switched to hurdles and won gold in her event. After secondary education, she attended Calabar College of Technology and represented the college at the NIPOGA games participating in the hurdles, high jump and long jump events. In the 3rd National Sports Festival, she chose to focus on high jump and long jump. From there, she was selected to represent the country in the Ecowas games and later at the All Africa Games. [1] She won the gold medal in the 1978 All Africa Games held in Algiers, Algeria with 3709 points. [2] She also won bronze medals in the 100m hurdles and long jump during the same competition achieving a time & distance of 13.99s and 6.12m respectively. [3] [4]
The Eastern Region was an administrative region in Nigeria, dating back originally from the division of the colony Southern Nigeria in 1954. Its first capital was Calabar. The capital was later moved to Enugu and the second capital was Umuahia. The region was officially divided in 1967 into three new states, the East-Central State, Rivers State and South-Eastern State. East-Central State had its capital at Enugu, which is now part of Enugu State.
Chioma Ajunwa-Opara – 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, and the first black African woman to win an Olympic gold medal in a field event. A member of the Nigerian Police Force, 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.
Ikot Ekpene, also known as The Raffia City, is a historic town in the south-southern state of Akwa Ibom, Nigeria. It is the political and cultural capital of the Annang ethnic group in Nigeria. The town is located on the A342 highway that parallels the coast, between Calabar to the southeast and Aba to the west, with the state capital, Uyo, on this road just to the east. Umuahia is the next major town to the north. The population of the Ikot Ekpene Local government area was estimated to be 180,500 in 2022.
The 2nd All-Africa Games, also known as Lagos 1973, were played from 7 to 18 January 1973, in Lagos, Nigeria.
The 3rd All-Africa Games, alson known as Algiers 1978 was a multi-sport event played from 13 to 28 July 1978, in Algiers, Algeria. 45 countries from 49 independent African countries participated in twelve sports.
The Federal Government College, Ido-ani, Ondo State, is a secondary institution located in Idoani, Ondo State in Nigeria. It is one of over 100 Federal Government owned unity schools managed by the Federal Ministry of Education, Nigeria.
Maria Usifo is a Nigerian athlete and former Olympian who represented Nigeria at Los Angeles (1984) and Seoul (1988) Olympic Games. She specialized in the 100 and 400 metres hurdles. She is one of the female athletes in Nigerian sports history who dominated athletic events both at national and international levels.
The second All-Africa Games were held in Lagos, Nigeria in January 1973.
Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres. Okagbare also holds the women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.
Dawn C. Burrell is an American chef and retired long jumper. She won the gold medal at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships and represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In her culinary career, she was a semifinalist in 2020 for a James Beard Foundation Award. Burrell is the younger sister of former 100 m world record holder Leroy Burrell.
Modupe Oshikoya is a former female track and field athlete from Nigeria, who competed in the women's sprint and long jump events during her career. She is a one-time Olympian (1972), and also competed in the heptathlon. Oshikoya won a total number of five gold medals at the All-Africa Games. Oshikoya competed and won Gold for her University in the US, UCLA in the 100 meters, the Long Jump, 100 meters hurdles and the hepthatlon at the NCAA championships in 1982.
Carol LeGrant Lewis is an American former track and field athlete who specialized in the long jump. She is the 1983 World Championship bronze medalist, and a 4-time US Champion. Her best long jump of 7.04 meters in 1985 is the former American record. She is the sister of 9-time Olympic gold medalist Carl Lewis, and former professional soccer player Cleveland Lewis. She is also the daughter of retired American hurdler Evelyn Lawler.
Muizat Ajoke Odumosu Alademerin is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres and the 400 metres hurdles. She represented Nigeria at the 2008 and 2012 Summer Olympics and competed at the World Championships in Athletics in 2007, 2009, 2011 and 2013. She was the bronze medallist at the 2007 All-Africa Games and went on to become the continental champion with a win at the 2008 and 2012 African Championships.
Ese Brume MON is a Nigerian athlete who specializes in the long jump. She is the current commonwealth champion and a three-time African senior champion in the long Jump and holds a personal best of 7.17 m She currently holds the commonwealth games record, African junior record and African record in the event. She's a two-time medalist at the world athletics championship, an Olympic bronze medalist and also a five-time African junior champion in athletics.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4 × 400 m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
Oluwatobiloba Ayomide "Tobi" Amusan is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and also competes as a sprinter. Amusan is the current world record holder in the 100 metres hurdles with a time of 12.12 seconds which she set at the 2022 women's 100 metres hurdles semi-final in Eugene, Oregon. She is the current Commonwealth and African champion in the 100 m hurdles, as well as the meet record holder in those two competitions. Amusan became the first ever Nigerian world champion and world record holder in an athletics event when she won the 2022 World Championships 100 m hurdles gold medal, setting the current world record of 12.12 seconds (+0.9 m/s) in the semi-final, followed up by a 12.06 seconds (+2.5 m/s) in the final. She won back-to-back Commonwealth and African titles in 2018 and 2022 in the 100 m hurdles and is also a two-time African Games champion. She is also the current Diamond league champion in the 100 metres hurdles having won the final in 12.33 seconds (+1.8 m/s) achieving a winning streak in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
Violet Obiamaka Odogwu-Nwajei is a former Nigerian track and field athlete. She is a former president of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria and a vice-president of the Confederation of African Athletics.
Ibanga Akpabio was a Nigerian educator and government official who was a regional Minister of Education and later of Internal Affairs in the Eastern region, during Nigeria's first republic.
Judy Bell-Gam is a Nigerian former track and field athlete. She won the 100 metres hurdles for Nigeria at the first African Championships in Dakar in 1979 and also was Nigeria's first winner in that event at the 1978 All-Africa Games.
The Annang Festival of Arts and Culture is celebrated in Ikot Ekpene, Akwa Ibom, a region located in South Southern Nigeria. The festival was initiated in 2016, in order to preserve the Anaañ history, language and culture. The festival aims at preventing the Annang tradition and its cultural heritage from undergoing extinction. It showcase and promote the rich natural endowments of Annang land in Akwa Ibom State. The festival also has a registered foundation referred to as the Annang Festival of Arts and Culture Foundation.