Popular Nigerian singer, Paul Play among many other celebrities and Nigerians has congratulated athlete Tobi Amusan on becoming the first Nigerian athlete to win a World Athletics Championship gold as she stormed to victory in the women’s 100m hurdles in Oregon on Sunday, July 24.
Paul Play took to Instagram on Monday morning, July 25 to applaud Amusan on the feat and chastise Nigerian leaders for their “failure”. He wrote:
“Tobi Amusan thanks for making us proud again.”
“I am African, I’m proud, feel no shame or stress to say it loud !!! As our failure-infested leaders, keep letting us down. Let the athletes, musicians, actors, academicians, activists, and entertainers keep lifting us up. We won’t stop.”
Amusan clocked an incredible 12.06 seconds, smashing her world record in the semi-final where she clocked 12.12 seconds.
However, her winning time will not be recognised as a world record due to an illegal tailwind of 2.5 meters per second.
Britany Anderson of Jamaica won silver in 12.23 seconds, while Olympic champion Jasmine Camacho-Quinn of Puerto Rico had to settle for bronze in 12.23 seconds.
Amusan could not hold back tears on the podium while the Nigeria national anthem was ongoing.
Speaking on her victory, Tobi said:
“Honestly, I believe in my abilities but I was not expecting a world record at these championships. The goal is always just to execute well and get the win. So the world record is a bonus. I knew I had it in me but I could not believe it when I saw it on the screen after the semis.”
“Before the final, I just tried to stay calm and to do my best. I took a deep breath knowing that I have some goals to accomplish and it worked pretty good. I knew it was very fast but not this fast.”