Gold medalist in the women's 100-meter hurdles, Tobi Amusan of Nigeria, at the World Athletics Championships, July 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
The 2022 Track and Field World Championships in Eugene, Oregon, had already seen a world record fall two days before, and on Sunday, Nigeria’s Tobi Amusan delivered another one. The 25-year-old’s unforgettable record-setting performance in the women’s 100-meter hurdles helped secure her first ever global gold medal and the first ever for Nigeria at the world championships.
Amusan’s semifinal race saw her set a new world record with a time of 12.12 seconds, besting the previous record of 12.20 seconds set by American Kendra Harrison in 2016. Less than two hours later in the final, with Harrison in the lane beside her, Amusan ran an even better time (12.06), but the high in-race wind speed was higher than the allowable limit. Thus, she claimed the gold medal but the world record stayed at 12.12.
Congratulations to Tobi Amusan on breaking the world record in the 100m hurdles and winning Nigeria's first ever gold at the world championship!
Mere moments after her gold medal-winning race, Amusan looked into the camera while sporting a cross necklace and yelled, “God did that!” Then during her post-race interview, she made sure to credit God time and time again for her historic performance.
“I’m elated,” a smiling Amusan said. “It’s been a journey and I’m thankful to God for keeping me healthy. And I couldn’t be more thankful to have come out of here with the win and the world record. It’s crazy! It’s crazy.”
She continued later, “I came out and trusted my hard work and trusted that God is in control.”
Born in Nigeria, Amusan discovered her abilities as a hurdler during her teenage years and honed them for years at African competitions. American universities soon noticed, and in 2016 the University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) offered Amusan a track scholarship. As she continued to improve, she won gold medals at the African Championships (2018), the All-Africa Games (2015, 2019) and the Commonwealth Games (2018).
Yet when it came to global competitions like the world championships or the Olympics, she always fell just short of the podium. Fourth-place finishes at the 2019 World Championships and last year’s Tokyo Olympics left her craving a medal more than ever.
On Sunday, Amusan broke through in a big way.
“I’ve been that ‘almost girl’ at every championship,” she said in the post-race interview, “and finally I can say, ‘God did it.'”
Amusan is very vocal about her faith in interviews and on social media. On Monday morning, she wrote on Facebook, “I never doubted God. I believed in my Coach, my training program and I knew itโs MY TIME and MY TURN.”
Amusan’s full first name is “Oluwatobiloba,” which means “God is a great king” in the Yoruba language. Amusan has consistently testified to that truth, giving all glory to Him, and now as a world record holder, she’s thrilled to put her faith on display for the world to see.
U.S. sprinter Ronnie Baker (center) competes at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Aug. 1, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
Ronnie Baker looks like the old version of himself.
The 32-year-old ran 9.88 seconds in the 100-meter dash Friday at the 2026 USATF Outdoor Championships in New York, his fastest time since 2021 and good for a second-place finish behind Noah Lyles. It was the kind of performance that could put Baker back on the U.S. Olympic team for the first time since the Tokyo Games.
Two years from now, the 2028 L.A. Olympics will be wrapping up. Baker hopes to be there and become one of the oldest medalists in Olympic history.
But while the stopwatch resembled the old Baker, the man crossing the finish line was anything but. After a disappointing fifth-place finish in the 100m at the 2020-21 Olympics sent him into a battle with depression, Baker said God has transformed both his perspective and his purpose.
โIโm in a place now where I just have so much joy,โ he told reporters Friday following his race. โI look forward to getting here and competing because the joy of the Lord is my strength. Heโs given me a gift in this track and field thing, and itโs not for me to be an Olympic champion or be the fastest ever or get a bunch of medals. Itโs for me to enjoy the time that I have here and have joy in it. That joy draws me closer to Him, and thatโs why I love this sport.โ
Looking back, it’s easy to see how he had made his sport an idol, he said. The roots of that approach began to take shape when his parents divorced when he was young. Through the divorce, he lost connection with his earthly father and sought validation through success on the track and in other sports. He craved the praise that came when he experienced any sort of success.
Baker starred in track and basketball at Ballard High School in Louisville, Kentucky, before embarking on a collegiate track career at Texas Christian, where he won two indoor national championships in the 60-meter dash.
โEven after that, I always felt like I was searching for something,โ he said in a video with This Is My Story. โI would win a lot of races. I would beat the top guys. But when it came to medals, I felt like I could never get a medal when it mattered.โ
After his college career ended, he trained for six years to make a U.S. Olympic team. That finally happened when he qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Games, which took place a year later due to the COVID pandemic. By that point in his life, he had stopped partying and was going to church regularly.
โI was doing all these things and I was like, ‘God is going to bless me because of these things that Iโm laying down,’โ he said in the video.
Due to the pandemic, there were no fans in the stands at the Olympic events. Still, Baker recognized the weight of the moment while running the 100m final. He felt he was โin the raceโ for the first 60 meters, but then felt โthe last 40 meters just kind of fade away,” and he placed fifth.
All those years of training came flooding back in his mind, and he was supremely disappointed, he said. That disappointment lingered and he eventually became depressed. He couldn’t stop ruminating on the result of the race.
โEverything had led me to that point, and when that all came crashing down, I realized I had nothing to stand on,โ he said in the video. โI never really understood depression until it actually happened to me.
โI didnโt really want to do anything. The only thing I could think about was how I could fix what just happened, what went wrong, and it was just kind of this lethargic feeling of โI donโt have any feelings at all right now.โโ
That experience became a turning point in his life. He had to recalibrate why he was pursuing track and field anymore and what his purpose was outside of the sport.
After the Tokyo Olympics, he read the Bible all the way through for the first time in his life. God began revealing Himself in a way Baker had never experienced before.
โIn life I always believed that I had to work in order to be in right standing with God,” he said in the video. “I realized that itโs not based on the outcomes and what I can accomplish, but who I am in Christ. Knowing that God validated me, that He loves me, and I can serve others through the love that Heโs given me through the sacrifice that He made for me on the cross โ I really had to decide that I was going to repent and stop seeking God for the things that He could give me and seek Him for who He truly was.โ
But for the next three years, he still wrestled with his competitiveness and the pride with which he had lived for so long as an athlete. He struggled with understanding how to glorify God while not getting caught up in the success or failures of his sport again. But as he had learned shortly before that season, walking with God doesn’t absolve him from adversity.
He was growing closer to God, but didnโt compete well during those three years. It had always been easy for him to run the 100m dash in nine seconds, but during that stretch he just simply couldnโt do it. He ran 9.98 at the 2024 U.S. Olympic Trials, but that was only good for 11th place, leaving him off the Olympic team.
โI was just wrestling with all of those things and God was really transforming me,โ he said in the video. โThat couldโve been a time where I quit and been like, โOK, Iโm almost 30 years old, I had my shining moment at the Olympics.โ I just felt like there was something inside me that was like, ‘No, this is not the end of your story.’โ
When we lose in sport remember that God is calling us โto His eternal gloryโ
Next up were the 2025 World Championships โ in Tokyo, the same place where he had suffered major disappointment just a few years before. This time he went with a much different perspective. And it was a much different vibe all around.
Baker was slotted as part of the menโs 4x100m relay team. This time, the stands were packed and his family and daughter were there. And this time, along with his teammates, he won gold.
โGodโs like, โYou felt like I wasnโt working, and Iโm going to show you that I was,โโ he said in the video. โThere was no medal that was going to be better than the transformation that I had gone through in the last four years. For so long in my life, when I was going through these low moments โ especially after the Olympics in 2021 โ I felt like God was not there. I felt like He had abandoned me.
โThe Bible says that God will never leave us nor forsake us. If youโve ever felt like that, I want to encourage you and remind you that Godโs been there the entire time. Heโs been with you every step of the way. It may have not turned out how you believed it would, but Heโs perfecting and growing you in those moments. Thatโs exactly what He did for me, and I know that Heโll do it for you. If you seek Him, I know He will show up for you.โ
Daniel Roberts at the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics. (AP Photo/Ashley Landis)
THIS IS THE SPORTS SPECTRUM PODCAST WITH MATT FORTE, FEATURING DANIEL ROBERTS
Daniel Roberts is a two-time Olympic track and field athlete representing the United States. In college, he was a four-time All-American at Kentucky, where he broke numerous track and field records. At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Roberts took the silver medal in the 100-meter hurdles.
Today on the podcast, Daniel Roberts discusses the importance of faith in overcoming adversity, and how his identity has evolved beyond athletics. He emphasizes the significance of daily spiritual disciplines and the difference between knowing about God and having a personal relationship with Him. Roberts also shares about his Olympic experiences and his aspirations for the future, including the upcoming 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
