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Samuel Ogazi's outing at Paris 2024 will always be a memorable after getting to the final and finishing in the top 8 of the world's best 400m runners in one of the greatest races in Olympic history.
Nigeria's sole representative in the men's 400m final at Paris 2024 Samuel Ogazi gave a good account of himself in his maiden Olympics by finishing in a respectable seventh position.
In a final that has been classified as one of the greatest races in Olympic history, USA's Quincy Hall left it late to claim the Olympic title in a new Personal Best (PB) of 43.40s ahead of Great Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith in an European Record of 43.44s, while Zambia's Muzala Samukonga settled for the bronze in a new National Record of 43.74s.
Ogazi as the youngest in the field, couldn't match the strength and experience of the rest of the runners as his time of 44.73s got him the seventh position.
Despite the loss, the 18-year-old sensation can take solace in being Nigeria's first athlete to reach the men's Olympic 400m final for the first time in 36 years since the legendary Innocent Egbunike attained the feat at Seoul 1988.
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19:44 - 06.08.2024
Paris 2024: Samuel Ogazi makes Nigeria's first 400m Olympic final in 36 years, matches the legendary Innocent Eggbunike's record
When the legendary Innocent Egbunike competed at Seoul 1988, Samuel Ogazi wasn't born. The teenager has now become Nigeria's first 400m Olympic finalist in 36 years.
He has had a very long year from performing exceptionally well in the US college circuit to playing vital roles in the mixed 4x400m and men's 4x400m team qualifying for Paris Olympics at the World Relays, and going to the African championships where he claimed a bronze medal, before his iconic feat in Paris, he has surely had a season to be proud of.
Ogazi may have not gotten a medal but his meteoric rise to being among the top 8 world's best quarter-milers this season makes him a great talent to keep an eye on for the future.
And his journey to world domination in a few years has only begun with the Olympic dream in Paris.
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