Nigeria’s Okoli is the new face of British youth athletics

Just as her compatriot, Christine
Ohuruogu, did 15 years ago, British-
born Nigerian 100 metres sprinter,
Olivia Okoli, has taken United
Kingdom’s athletics circuit by storm.
At two separate meets recently held in
England, Okoli clinched the English
and British Schools U17 100m
Women’s titles.
Okoli, a 16-year old A-Levels student
of St. Catherine’s School, Bramley,
Guildford, Surrey in England, is a
member of the Guildford and
Godalming Athletics Club in Surrey,
South East of England.
Okoli beat the rest of the field to be
crowned the English Schools Athletics
Association (ESAA) U17 Women 100m
champion in Gateshead, Tyne and
Wear, England on the of July 9, 2016
in a time of 12.08s in very wet
conditions and into a headwind of
-1.8. She beat last year’s champion,
Charmont Webster-Tape, in a photo-
finish.
Okoli had achieved her personal best
time (PB) of 11.90s in winning her
semifinal the previous day.
A week later, on July 16, 2016 in
Ashford, Kent, England, Okoli,
competing for England, added the
British Schools U17 Women 100 metres
title to her collection, blitzing the field
in a time of 11.91 seconds to claim the
gold medal (against a strong headwind
of -3.3) at the Schools International
Athletics Board (SIAB) Athletics Meet.
The competition featured elite
representatives from the Schools’
Athletic Associations of England,
Scotland, Wales and All Ireland. Her
arch-rival Webster-Tape came second
in a time of 12.32seconds.
The 2016 season is Okoli’s first major
season nationally in England, having
previously competed mainly regionally
within the Surrey County and
environs, with a few exceptions at the
National Prep Schools Junior
Championships in 2012 and 2013, due
to academic commitments.
In June 2015, she achieved 9 A*s (A
Stars) in her GCSE examinations,
before commencing her A-Levels in
September 2015.
Incidentally, while her PB of 11.90s is
the 100 metres Senior, U-20 and U-17
Women record for her Athletics club
in Surrey, Okoli remains the only
athlete in the top 30 U-17 Women 100
metres athletes in the United Kingdom
without a full-time coach.