Annette Echikunwoke

Nigerian-American hammer thrower

Annette Echikunwoke
Personal information
Echikunwoke at the 2024 United States Olympic trials
Nationality	American Nigerian
Born	(1996-07-29) 29 July 1996 (age 27)
Sport
Country	United States
Sport	Athletics
Event	Hammer throw

Annette Echikunwoke (born 29 July 1996)^[1] is a Nigerian-American hammer thrower who lives in Ohio, United States. She was due to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics, but was disqualified due to the negligence of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria; she changed allegiance and is set to represent the United States at the 2024 Summer Olympics. She holds the African area record in hammer throw, with a throw of 75.49 m in Tucson in 2021.

Early life

Annette Echikunwoke started athletic throwing events in school after she won the shot put and discus throw at a sports day event, deciding that if she was good she might as well continue.^[2] Her cousin is actress Megalyn Echikunwoke.^[3]

Career

Echikunwoke is from Pickerington North in Ohio, and attended the University of Cincinnati for both her undergraduate and master's degree, where she was on the track and field team. With Cincinnati she won the weight throw event at the 2017 NCAA Championship, also becoming the university's first NCAA champion in track and field.^[1]^[2] In 2020, she elected to represent her parents' home country of Nigeria in Olympic national selection.^[2]^[4]

In 2021, Echikunwoke threw four successive Nigerian and African records in hammer, setting the mark at 75.49 m USATF Throws Festival in Tucson, Arizona, on 22 May 2021.^[5]^[6] She is ranked #7 in the world in the women's hammer throw; she has previously been ranked #101 in the world in women's shot put with a personal best of 16.79 m in 2017. She also throws discus and 20lb weight (a US indoor equivalent to the hammer).^[4]

Echikunwoke was due to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but was told on 29 July 2021 that she could not compete due to the negligence of the Nigerian Federation not setting up drug tests and not relaying her need to share her whereabouts. Ten Nigerian athletes set to compete in 2021, a large percentage of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC)'s delegation, were disqualified because of the negligence of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria. The AFN said that many of its athletes based in the United States did not keep the AFN updated on their location, though they did not name Echikunwoke; she claimed that the AFN requested her location for drug testing six times, and that she provided the location but no officials ever came to perform the tests.^[6]

National titles

NCAA Division I Women's Indoor Track and Field Championships
- Weight throw: 2017

References

^ ^a ^b Harrington, Joe. "Hammer thrower, former University of Cincinnati athlete and Olympian, Annette Echikunwoke out of Tokyo games". The Enquirer. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
^ ^a ^b ^c "Athletics ECHIKUNWOKE Annette - Tokyo 2020 Olympics". Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Archived from the original on 6 August 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
^ "megalyn: So my cousin is an unstoppable super star Olympian! Please follow and support her while she prepares to win the gold for Nigeria!!". Instagram. Archived from the original on 26 December 2021. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Annette ECHIKUNWOKE". World Athletics. Retrieved 6 August 2021.
^ Jess Whittington (23 May 2021). "Crouser joins 23-metre club in Tucson". World Athletics. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
^ ^a ^b "Officials lied about my whereabouts, says disqualified Echikunwoke". Punch Newspapers. 30 July 2021. Retrieved 6 August 2021.