Nigeria’s first-ever Olympic medalist and former boxer, Nojim Maiyegun, has died at the age of 83.
The news of his death was confirmed by Rudolfine F. Soultan, a close confidante, in a heartfelt Facebook post on Monday.
“My Jimmy died. I can’t say more about this right now because it’s just horrible. The day after tomorrow, we would have been together for 17 years,” Soultan wrote, expressing her grief.
According to reports from The Cable, Maiyegun breathed his last on Monday morning at his residence in Vienna, Austria, following a battle with an undisclosed illness that had plagued him for several months.
Maiyegun made history at the age of 23 by winning Nigeria’s first Olympic medal—a bronze—in the light-heavyweight boxing category at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. His journey to the podium was marked by a stunning victory over Great Britain’s William Robinson, whom he defeated in just one minute and 59 seconds during the second round. He then advanced to the quarter-finals, where he triumphed over Denmark’s Tom Bogs before losing to France’s Joseph Gonzalez in the semi-final, which resulted in Maiyegun and Poland’s Józef Grzesiak both securing bronze medals.
In 1966, Maiyegun further cemented his legacy by winning another bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games held in Kingston, Jamaica.
After a successful amateur career, Maiyegun left Nigeria in 1971 to pursue professional boxing. During his professional career, he fought 16 times, winning 12 of those matches, with 10 victories coming by knockout.
