By Our Reporter
The country’s first ever medallist at the Olympic Games, Nojim Maiyegun, has died on Monday at the age of 85
Based on available reports, Maiyegun died of natural causes in Vienna, Austria where he was resident for many years.
The deceased, according to a Nigerian living in Austria, Stephen Ogboh, became virtually impaired for years, was said to be attending hospital for regular treatment in the past six months before his passing.
Nigeria’s first Olympic medalist died just a few days after the 60th anniversary of the commemoration of bronze medal in boxing on 10 August 1964 at the Olympics in Tokyo.
Maiyegun shared the bronze medal with Józef Grzesiak of Poland in the Light middleweight category. At the Olympics, the two losers in the semifinals are traditionally awarded the bronze medal, as there is no third-place bout.
History also records that it was the first time since Helsinki 1952 when Nigeria started participating in the Games that he won a medal, an achievement that sank Nigeria’s 12-year winless streak at the Olympics.
Maiyegun was born on 17 February 1941 in Lagos and achieved a historic feat for Nigeria by winning a bronze medal in the men’s Light Middleweight (71 kg) category at the 1964 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
He was Nigeria’s first Olympic medallist not much was heard about him until 2012 when vision impairment set in for him and became a public knowledge then.
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