Tosin Oke

Oluwatosin Bamidele “Tosin” Oke (born 1 October 1980 in London, England) is a Nigerian track and field athlete, who competes in the triple jump.

At the 2012 Summer Olympics Oke finished seventh in the triple jump final, the best Nigerian result of the Games.

Oke was born in Newham, London to Yoruba Nigerian parents, and later moved to Islington, Hackney and Greenwich where he spent his late teens.

After just under 2 years, he returned to London to attend Christ's College, a private School in Blackheath, followed by A-levels at Thomas Tallis sixth form.

In August 2007 he finally set a new personal best, jumping a World Championships B standard of 16.86 metres at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre.

[2] He was controversially left out of the British World Championships team for Osaka initially by Dave Collins and further backed up by Niels de Vos.

Needless to say, with multiple injuries, the World Championships in Daegu was not a happy hunting ground; he jumped 16.60m, came 8th in his qualifying group, but did not make it to the final.

Two weeks later, a heavily strapped up Oke, was able to rise to the occasion for his country, and jump a last gasp 16.65m at the 2011 All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique for the gold medal.

Tosin opened up the 2012 Olympic season with a bang, a 17.23m personal best at his National trials in Calabar really signalled his intent for the year ahead.

His comments stirred action at the highest level of Nigerian politics; the President Goodluck Jonathan, ordered an immediate overhaul of the sports sector, and the fallout from Team Nigeria's overall performance at the Games is ongoing.

2013 started off well with a 16.87m jump indoors, but became Tosin's most injury plagued season culminating in a torn adductor tendon at a competition in the Netherlands.

The 2014 season saw a return to training in London, with his friend long jumper Matthew (Matt) Burton, an athlete Tosin mentored and coached.

Tosin's worst major championships performance ever came about from having a viral infection just before the games, and being owed thousands of pounds of flight money until 36hrs before the event.