Tobi Amusan, the current world record holder and world champion in the 100m hurdles, recently revealed that she had considered quitting athletics last year if not for the intervention of her coach.
The 25-year-old Nigerian athlete made history by becoming the first Nigerian world champion in athletics after winning the 100m hurdles gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, where she set a world record of 12.12secs in the semi-final and 12.06secs in the final. She also clinched gold at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham and successfully defended her Diamond League Trophy in Zurich, setting a new meet record of 12.29secs.
During a video chat with Justin Tuckey, Amusan disclosed that her victory at the World Championships was a pivotal moment in her career as it helped her overcome doubts about her future in athletics. Prior to her triumph, Amusan had seriously contemplated abandoning athletics to return to school.
“That was the moment of ‘did I just do that?’. But yes, it was months, years, and a crazy amount of training and hard work that people saw in 12secs. Sweat, tears, heartbreaks and on the verge of quitting literally every other year. You know seeing it unfold at that moment, with my coach in the stands was just ‘ma we did it’, you know it was just crazy,” Amusan said.
“That year, I was like if something doesn’t go right… And I felt like it was what actually got me into doing my Masters because I was looking forward to what if the season doesn’t go right? In as much as we want to do great things, God approves whatever thing we want to do, but then it’s more of I’ve been putting in the work and showing up every year and it was just fourth, fourth, so I was just tired,” Amusan added.
“It was a moment of God, you can still do something even when you’re broken and you feel like it’s over, because 2022 was supposed to be like my quit year.
“I mean if God doesn’t want to show up I can as well do something with my energy. So, it was just the moment I wanted to quit and God just showed up miraculously, so it was a huge moment for myself, my coach, my family and everyone who supported me.”
