Charlton Ehizuelen (born 30 November 1953) is a Nigerian former

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who competed in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

. He set personal bests of and for the events, respectively. The latter mark from 1975 remains the Nigerian indoor record. As an international competitor, he became the first person to win both long jump and triple jump titles at the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

, doing so at the 1978 Games in Algiers. He was also a double winner at the one-off West African Games held in 1977. At the inaugural

1977 IAAF World Cup The 1st IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held from 2 to 4 September 1977, at the Rheinstadion in Düsseldorf, West Germany. Ove ...

he was a long jump bronze medallist and triple jump fourth-placer. He was one of only three members of the African team to reach the podium that year, alongside Ethiopians

Miruts Yifter Miruts Yifter (, affectionately known as "Yifter the Shifter", 15 May 1944 – 22 December 2016) was an Ethiopian long-distance runner and winner of two gold medals at the 1980 Summer Olympics. His date of birth is often given as 15 May 1944, th ...

and

Eshetu Tura Eshetu Tura (; (born January 19, 1950) is a retired long-distance runner from Ethiopia. He won a bronze medal in 3,000 metres steeplechase at the 1980 Summer Olympics. Career Tura won the silver medal behind Kip Rono at the first Afric ...

. He represented Africa again at the

1981 IAAF World Cup The 3rd IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 4–6, 1981, at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. Overall results ...

, but was eighth in the long jump on that occasion.Charlton Ehizuelen
Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. His international career on the highest stage was stymied by Nigeria's boycotts of the

1976 Montreal Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal w ...

where he was a favorite for a medal and the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

,Abdullahi, Sadiq (2012-12-05)
Sports Development in Nigeria: The Charlton Ehizuelen Story
. Nigerians in America. Retrieved on 2017-04-03. done in response to

South African apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. Ehizuelen attended

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

and won the NCAA Division I Championship titles in the men's long jump (1975) and the men's triple jump (1974). He was the first African to win either title. He also twice won the long jump at the

NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships The NCAA Men's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championship is an annual collegiate indoor track and field competition for men organised by the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The first edition of the championship was held in 1965, a ...

(1976, 1977). His success in the American collegiate system came at a time of growing foreign participation in college track, with eight non-Americans winning titles at the 1975 NCAA Championships. He also competed collegiately in his native continent, winning a long jump/triple jump double at the 1975 All-Africa University Games and defending his long jump title four years later. He remained based in the United States during his career and was the long jump winner at the

USA Indoor Track and Field Championships The USA Indoor Track and Field Championships is an annual indoor track and field competition organized by USA Track & Field, which serves as the American national championships for the sport. In years which feature a World Indoor Championships i ...

. Ehizuelen remains resident in the United States, is a member of

USA Track and Field USA Track & Field (USATF) is a United States national Sport governing body, governing body for the sports of track and field, cross country running, road running, and racewalking (known as the sport of athletics outside the US). The USATF was kn ...

and has advocated greater support of the Nigerian diaspora to bolster the nation's sporting success.

International competitions

National titles

**Long jump: 1978 * NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships **Long jump: 1975 **Triple jump: 1974 * NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships **Long jump: 1976, 1977

Seasonal bests

*Long jump **1975: **1976: **1977: **1978: **1979: **1980: **1981: 1981 Men's Long Jump
Mennea. Retrieved on 2017-04-03.

References

External links

*
All-Athletics profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ehizuelen, Charlton Living people 1953 births Nigerian male long jumpers Nigerian male triple jumpers African Games gold medalists for Nigeria African Games gold medalists in athletics (track and field) African Games athletes for Nigeria Illinois Fighting Illini men's track and field athletes Nigerian emigrants to the United States Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 All-Africa Games NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships winners NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships winners 20th-century Nigerian sportsmen

International competitions

National titles

Seasonal bests

See also

References

External links