SPRINT hurdler Tobi Amusan has gone down memory lane to describe how she fell in love with the discipline that has brought her fame.
The 24-year-old, who will be representing Team Nigeria in the 100m hurdles in her second Olympics at Tokyo 2020, recalled how she started as a teenager and rose to prominence.
“I started the hurdles by chance. I went to a meeting aged 13 or 14 intending to compete in the sprints and long jump only to realise by the time I arrived, the only event remaining on the programme was the hurdles,” Amusan told World Athletics. “My coach encouraged me to enter and I ended up winning, which is how my hurdles journey began.
“I continued to do sprints and long jump for a time but also squeezed in one hurdles sessions a week – where I put cones and tyres down on the track to jump over because we had no hurdles in my home city.”
Amusan, who grew up in Ijebu-Ode in western Nigerian state Ogun, soon began to make big strides in the event she got accidentally involved in.
“I continued to perform well but what propelled me into hurdling full-time was that it was tough to make national teams for the sprints, so I decided to enter the hurdles at the Nigerian Trials for the African Junior Championships,” she narrated.
“I won and I went to Ethiopia in 2015 100 percent focused on hurdles. I won African junior gold in Addis Ababa and from that point on there was no looking back – I was a hurdler.”
Apart from her gold in the continental junior competition, Amusan has amassed numerous medals at senior level.
She won the 100m hurdles gold medal and a 4×100m bronze at the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2018, as well as 100m hurdles gold at the 2015 and 2019 African Games.
The University of Texas, El Paso graduate explains the difference between her beloved hurdles and flat races.
“The hurdles is such a spectacular and unique event – different to a regular sprinting event,” she noted.
“For me, there are three phases in the hurdles, that first seven or eight strides which helps provide the foundation for your race.
“The next phase is the three strides between each of the hurdles and finally the mad dash to the finish line from the final hurdle.”
Amusan then revealed what gives her the most pleasure in the sprint hurdles.
She said: “So what do I really enjoy about the hurdles? Well, I enjoy many components including that sweet sound of clearing the hurdles.
“The hurdles is a rhythm event and I love reaching that rhythmic state where your mind, body and soul is in total tune with the event.
“I like the fact that hurdles is such a technical event. When completing drills it requires total focus and discipline, components which shape you not only as an athlete but away from the track too.”
The sprint hurdler, who is in Tokyo as a genuine medal prospect for Nigeria after her fourth place finish in the World Championship final in 2019, cites courage, humility and a high intelligence quotient as requirements for her invent.
“Hurdles requires problem solving skills – you need to be swift thinker. If you hit a hurdle you need to think what you need to do to quickly restore balance to get back into a good rhythm,” Amusan explains.
“I also don’t think there is a track and field event which can teach humility quite like the sprint hurdles. You can be the fastest in the field but one mistake can spell the end for your race. A hurdler should never go into any race with any level of complacency or arrogance. It teaches you to be humble.
“Yet, I would also say with the hurdles there needs to be a certain fearlessness too. You cannot have a negative approach. You need to believe you will clear all of the hurdles and cross that finish line – and this is another reason I like the event so much.”
