Nigerias Elizabeth Anyanacho: Inspiring a whole generation. By Evelyn Watta.
3 min read
The 21-year-old is the first female Nigerian taekwondo athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 16 years. ·
The plan was for Elizabeth Anyanacho to qualify for Paris 2024 when she would be well prepared and experienced to compete at the highest level. Yet now she is now on the path to Tokyo 2020, the first Nigerian female taekwondo athlete to qualify for the Olympics in 16 years.
It has been a remarkable breakthrough for Anyanacho who only began ‘practising kicks’ five years ago. Her success is in part due to the dedication of the 2008 Olympic bronze medallist Chika Chukwumerije who has been mentoring and nurturing the next generation of taekwondo athletes in the sports-rich nation. When Nigeria’s first ever female taekwondo Olympian Princess Dudu was manoeuvring around the Olympic mats at Athens 2004, five-year-old Anyanacho was enjoying one of her favourite martial-art-fuelled movies at her home in Abuja.
She knows the ‘Olympics is not a joke’, but is keen to carve an Olympic legacy of her own by becoming a role model to other women who may want to pursue the sport. “I want to inspire girls,” she told the Olympic Channel from Abuja.
At 16, Anyanacho wanted to try out a sport. She began training with the track and field team at a local stadium in Nigeria’s administrative capital Abuja. Standing 6-foot-3 (1.9m), she figured she could dabble in the long and high jumps. During one of her training sessions, she was spotted by Chukwumerije who was at the stadium to identify up-and-coming talent to train for taekwondo.
“In 2015 I went to the stadium to scout for tall boys and girls. Her body structure fits the body of a taekwondo athlete. She had never done sport in her life,” said Chukwumerije, now the technical director at Nigerian Taekwondo.
Chukumerije, a three-time Olympian, figured Anyanacho’s long legs would give her an edge against opponents when she is kicking from a distance. “I was happy to give it a try,” said Anyanacho who turned 21 a few weeks ago, despite looking closer to 16. “I started thinking about sports when I was little, but I didn’t think I’d be a taekwondo athlete. I didn’t even know what taekwondo was. I liked action movies. I liked the kicks in the action movies.” – Elizabeth Anyanacho.
Her father was protective of his daughter, unsure why she was engaging in a sport that was not so popular in her prime teenage years. “Sometimes my dad questioned whether I really liked it. I think it’s because he wanted me to do basketball. He only allowed me to stay in the sport when he saw I was making progress and I was getting good at it,“ she explained.“I was excited when I discovered taekwondo,” Anyanacho continued. “At first when I started, I didn’t know I was going to come this far. After two years of training I loved it. I tried some kicks, turns and all that. My best kick is the half-kick, because I am very tall and I can be able to use my long legs for that.” – Elizabeth Anyanacho.
Chukwumerjie added: “The first issue is the parents, you have to convince them why their kids have to do taekwondo, especially the girls. Why should they come to learn how to fight, why should they come and get injured?
“The priority for many families is income. And taekwondo is not a professional sport. It’s not like football or basketball. Most of the kids are not from wealthy families. It is about giving them life skills in addition to sporting skills,” said Chukwumerije.
“During my career, we used to have a situation of streets to podium and back to the streets. I decided to form a foundation to produce educated champions, having a better set of athletes. From the streets to the podium, and from there they have a life.” – Chika Chukwumerije.
