Olympic Medalist, Sunday Bada Dies

Tragedy struck Nigerian sports yesterday with the death of former Olympic silver medalist, Sunday Bada, a Superintendent of Police.

P.M.Sports gathered that the Technical Director of Athletic Federation of Nigeria, AFN, slumped at the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos, last night and efforts to revive him on the way to the General Hospital, Ikeja failed.

The late Bada was said to be preparing to go to the airport to pick his wife who was coming back from a trip abroad when the incident happened.

“We’re together at the National Stadium around 8p.m yesterday and he told us that he would be going to the airport to pick his wife. It’s so sad that one of his brothers called me few minutes later that Bada has died. The death is so painful,” said Yusuf Alli, former Commonwealth Long Jump gold medalist.

Secretary-General of the Athletic Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Mrs. Maria Worphill, told P.M.Sports from Abuja early today that “I learnt that Bada had a meeting yesterday at the Ojez Restaurant at the National Stadium, Lagos, last night and left after 9p.m. Around 10:15p.m I received a call that he had died. I could not believe that someone that we were together two days ago was no more. He was not sick, only that he had a history of high BP. Why Bada at this time? People are telling me that God knows the best, but He has to tell us why this is happening to us.”

Worphill said the President of the AFN, Solomon Ogba, would be with the family of the late Bada today as he had been fully briefed while she(Worphill) would have hit Lagos since morning if not for the flight delay.

Media officer of the AFN, Duro Ikhazuagbe, said that news of the dead of Bada was broken to the wife today when she was eager to know why her husband refused to pick her at the airport last night.

“Bada slumped at the stadium but he did not get to the hospital before he died. The family did not break the news to the wife till this morning. His body has been deposited at the General Hospital morgue in Ikeja. This is a great loss to the nation,” he said.

His Profile

Sunday Bada (born June 22, 1969 in Kwara State) is a retired Nigerian sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. He was a Superintendent of Police, SP.

Bada won three medals at World Indoor Championships, including a gold medal in 1997.

He was also a part of the Nigerian team that won the silver medal in 4 x 400 metres relay at the year 2000 Olympics. Nigeria established a national record time of 2:58.68 minutes.

He set his personal best of 44.63 seconds at the 1993 World Championships where he finished fifth. This is the second fastest time by a Nigerian sprinter, after Innocent Egbunike’s best of 44.17 sec. Bada’s indoor best of 45.51 is the African record for the event.

— Taiwo Adelu