Chika Chukwumerije

Medal record
Competitor for  Nigeria
Men's taekwando
Olympic Games
Bronze	2008 Beijing	+80kg
All-Africa Games
Gold	2007 Algiers	+80kg

Chika Chukwumerije (born December 30, 1983) is a male taekwondo practitioner from Nigeria. The son of Nigerian politician Uche Chukwumerije, Chika first drew attention in 2003 during the qualifiers for the 2003 All-Africa Games, where he eventually won a bronze medal in the Heavyweight Male category. He qualified for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, but lost his first bout to Pascal Gentil, the eventual bronze medal winner. Nevertheless, after a period of intensive training that was funded by his father, he became one of Nigeria's best chances for a medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. He won a gold medal at the 2007 All-Africa Games in the +80kg class and qualified for the 2008 Olympic Games soon after. Although he lost to eventual silver-medal winner Alexandros Nikolaidis in the semifinals of the +80kg event, he was entered into the repechage round of the tournament. Here, after defeating Akmal Irgashev of Uzbekistan he claimed a bronze medal in the event, Nigeria's third medal of the tournament.

Early life

Chukwumerije was born on December 30, 1983 in Nigeria.^[1] He is a graduate in the subject of mechanical engineering.^[2] His father, Uche Chukwumerije, was a national senator and Information Minister of Nigeria.^[3]

International career

Chukwumerije first garnered attention while training for the 2003 All-Africa Games that were held in Abuja, Nigeria. During the qualifications, he and partner Friday Dirisu fought hard against Lucky Ojemudia and Micheal Obiora to win the two spots in their weight categories.^[4] He won a bronze medal in the Heavyweight Male category, along with Ngala Munayi of Kenya.^[5]

Chukwumerije was chosen for the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens at the Olympic qualifiers in Cairo, Egypt in late January 2004.^[6] He came in second in the regional qualifications, behind only Abdelkader Zrouri of Morocco.^[7] He finished in 11th place in the men's +80 kg event after failing to advance beyond the preliminary round.^[1] He was defeated by Pascal Gentil of France, the eventual bronze medalist in the event.^[8] Despite this, he was considered by several sources to be one of Nigeria's best medal prospects at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, citing the amount of training he had undertaken and the experience that he had gained since the last Olympics.^{[9][3][10][11]} His father had paid for him, as well as fellow taekwondo practitioner Isa Adamu, to be trained in the United States and Europe and compete globally. This financial backing was unavailable to most other Nigerian athletes.^[3][11] Chukwumerije spent six weeks training in the United States, although the American embassy refused to grant his training partner Adamu a visa. They did, however, train together in Manchester and worked with coach Osita A. Green. They also trained in Taiwan and Germany.^[11]

At the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria, both Chukwumerije and Adamu won gold medals in taekwondo, the former in the +80 kg class. They then headed to Tripoli, Libya, where they earned their qualification tickets for the Beijing Olympics.^[12] Despite having lauded Nigerian athletes in the past,^[2] two days before his event, he proclaimed his "disappointment"^[10] at the performance of the Nigerian national team who, at that point, had not won a single medal at the games. He did, however, praise the Nigeria national football team,^[10] who ended up in second place in the men's tournament.^[13] The next day, however, Nigeria won bronze medals in the women's 4x100 metre relay^[14] and the women's long jump.^[15]

Competing in the men's +80kg event, Chukwumerije defeated Vietnam's Nguyen Van Hung in the preliminary rounds.^[16] He defeated Mali's Daba Modibo Keïta in the quarterfinals, but lost to Greece's Alexandros Nikolaidis, the eventual silver medal winner in the event. In the repechage, he defeated Akmal Irgashev of Uzbekistan to claim one of two bronze medals. The other went to Arman Chilmanov of Kazakhstan.^[17] In doing so, he earned an incentive offered by LG Electronics, who offered to furnish the home of any Nigerian Olympic competitor who won a medal.^[18] In September 2009 he entered the University of Liverpool for a one-year master's degree program in mechanical engineering.^[19]

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Gjerde, Arild; Jeroen Heijmans, Bill Mallon, and Hilary Evans (2008). "Chika Chukwumerije Biography and Statistics". Olympics. Sports Reference.com. http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/ch/chika-chukwumerije-1.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Nigeria: Chukwumerije Dreams Olympic Gold". allAfrica.com. 2007-09-27. http://allafrica.com/stories/200709280439.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
3. ^ ^{a b c} Salami, Adekunle (2008-08-23). "Chukwumerije steps out". Punch. http://www.punchng.com/Articl.aspx?theartic=Art200808231462675. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
4. ^ Ajayi, Boye (2004-07-23). "Chukumerijie's Son Causes Ripples in Camp". THISDAYSports (Asia Africa Intelligence Wire). 
5. ^ "8th AFRICAN TAEKWONDO CHAMPIONSHIPS". Mudokwan. October 2003. http://www.mudokwan.at/mdk/truthpages/africa8.htm. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
6. ^ Boye, Ajayi (2004-01-16). "Athens: TAN Picks Four for Cairo Qualifier". THISDAYSports. http://www.thisdayonline.com/archive/2004/01/18/20040118spo07.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
7. ^ "RESULTS 2002–2004". WTF OLYMPIC TAEKWONDO. 2004. http://www.taekwondoplayers.20m.com/shopping_page.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
8. ^ "Results – Taekwondo : over 80 kg". Olympics 2004 (BBC). 2004-08-12. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/martial_arts/results/3534268.stm. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
9. ^ Lanipekun, Fabio (2008-08-10). "Beijing Olympics: Nigeria’s realistic prospects (III)". The Sunday Tribune. http://www.tribune.com.ng/sun/10082008/grandmaster.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. ^{[dead link]}
10. ^ ^{a b c} "Olympics: Senator Chukwumerije's son can give Nigeria elusive gold". International News (Afrique en ligne). 2008-08-21. http://www.afriquenligne.fr/olympics:-senator-chukwumerije's-son-can-give-nigeria-elusive-gold-2008082111186.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
11. ^ ^{a b c} Solaja, Femi (2008-07-24). "Nigeria: Taekwondo – Chukwumerije Holds the Key". allAfrica.com. http://allafrica.com/stories/200807240204.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
12. ^ Solaja, Femi (2007-11-06). "Nigeria: Chukwumerije Bags Taekwondo Ticket". allAfrica.com. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711060769.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
13. ^ "Argentina wins gold again in Men's Football". Football (The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games). 2008-08-23. http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/football/n214577861.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
14. ^ "Jamaica stumbles, Russia sprints to Women's 4 x 100m victory". Athletics (The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games). 2008-08-22. http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/athletics/n214575727.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
15. ^ "Women's Long Jump: Maggi ends Lebedeva's reign". Athletics (The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games). 2008-08-22. http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/athletics/n214575494.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
16. ^ "Nguyen Van Hung". Athlete Biography. The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games. 2008-08-23. http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/9/240479.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
17. ^ "Taekwondo Day 4 Review: Debutants crowned in an eventful day". Taekwondo (The official website of the BEIJING 2008 Olympic Games). 2008-08-23. http://en.beijing2008.cn/news/sports/headlines/taekwondo/n214580486.shtml. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
18. ^ "Nigeria: Chukwumerije Welcomes LG Challenge". allAfrica.com. 2007-11-20. http://allafrica.com/stories/200711201096.html. Retrieved 2008-08-23. 
19. ^ "Chukwumerije Embarks On Another Success Route". The Guardian (Nigeria). 2009-09-26. http://www.ngrguardiannews.com/sports/article01/indexn2_html?pdate=260909&ptitle=Chukwumerije%20Embarks%20On%20Another%20Success%20Route. Retrieved 2010-02-09. ^{[dead link]}

Persondata
Name	Chukwumerije, Chika
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1983-12-30
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death