Emmanuel Ifeajuna is without question one of the most controversial names in Nigerian history. His achievement in sports won him the adulation of Nigerians. His later activities in the military, however, enraged some Nigerians so much that they no longer want to hear ...
Emmanuel Ifeajuna is without question one of the most controversial names in Nigerian history. His achievement in sports won him the adulation of Nigerians. His later activities in the military, however, enraged some Nigerians so much that they no longer want to hear of the honour he brought the country through his excellence as an athlete.
On July 31, 1954, in faraway Vancouver on the west coast of Canada, the 19-year-old Ifeajuna had a date with history. The high jump bar was set at a staggering height of 6 feet 8 inches. This was 132 inches above his own head. This young lad, however, was determined. He had scaled height after height, outclassing many other white competitors. The time to go for broke had come and Ifeajuna gave it his all. He knocked down the bar in his first attempt.
Curiously on April 24, 1987, when the first National Sports Awards ceremony for Heroes and Heroines of yester years was held at the Federal Palace Hotel, Lagos, Ifeajuna’s name was missing from the list of 71 sportsmen and women, administrators, philanthropists, referees, sponsors and sportswriters honoured. Incidentally, K.A.B Olowu who won a silver medal in long jump at the same Empire Games was the first name on the honours list.
Born in Onitsha, Anambra State in 1935 to a civil servant father and a mother, who was a full time housewife, Ifeajuna was admitted into the famous Dennis Memorial Grammar School, Onitsha in 1946. He spearheaded a school riot that marked him as a lad to watch out for. He got a job as clerical officer II after completing his secondary school studies. A keen sportsman, he excelled in his chosen sport, high jump and was selected to represent the country.
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