JUST IN: Nigeria’s first Olympics medalist, Maiyegun, is dead

Nojim Maiyegun, Nigeria’s pioneering Olympic medalist, has died at the age of 84.

Maiyegun made history by winning a bronze medal in light-heavyweight boxing at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a feat that earned him a place in the country’s sporting hall of fame.

According to a Facebook post by his acquaintance, Rudolfine Soultan, Maiyegun passed away after a long illness.

Soultan described Maiyegun’s death as “horrible” and revealed that they would have marked their 17th anniversary together in two days.

Maiyegun’s remarkable achievement in Tokyo and his subsequent bronze medal at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica, inspired generations of Nigerian athletes.