A former Nigerian lawmaker, Dino Melaye, has posted on X a footage that shows the Nigerian athlete, Tobi Amusan, partaking in a race alongside a claim that she won two gold medals at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics in France.
In the 72-second footage, eight female athletes were seen running the 100 metres hurdle race with Tobi Amusan who was ahead of other athletes, as the commentator eulogised her while she cut through the finishing line to emerge the winner of the race.
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Amusan could be seen celebrating after she won the race while her medal was presented to her.
Part of the footage’s audio transcribed below read:
… Tobi Amusan! look at the clock, I cannot believe it, she’s done it again, two world records in one night and she makes history by becoming Nigeria’s first world champion. What a way to do it! what a stage on which to discover sporting immortality, records can be broken, titles would stand a test of time and tonight she’s done both, two world records!, 12:06, tonight would never be forgotten by anybody lucky enough to be here that was [sic] extraordinary. we doubted she could do it again, how dare we? Nigeria, the proud African nation are on top of the world tonight.Â
Melaye’s post on X was accompanied with a caption thus:
Tobi Amusan, Nigeria’s hurdles sensation made history last night at the ongoing Paris Olympics Games. She shattered not one, but TWO world records in a single evening, leaving the world in awe. Congratulations to Tobi Amusan on this incredible feat.
The post has also garnered over 830,000 views alongside more than 11,000 likes, over 2,900 reposts and over 800 comments as of August 3, 2023.
The 2024 Olympics which is currently ongoing in Paris, France kicked off on Friday, July 26, 2024 and would last till Sunday, August 11 2024.
Tobi Amusan, is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specialises in the 100 metres hurdles and also competes as a sprinter. She leads the Nigerian delegation to the Paris Olympics and would also participate in the track and field events.
CLAIM
Video shows Tobi Amusan participating in the 100 metres hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympics.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING, as the footage posted by Melaye has been online since July 2022.
A Google reverse image search conducted on some screenshots from the footage shows that the video was from the World Athletics Champions that took place in Oregon in July 2022 where Amusan won the Gold medal for the women’s 100 metres hurdles.
Amusan set a new world record in the game’s semi-final, clocking it at 12.12 seconds, and improving her mark for the championship round, the AfricaNews reported on July 26, 2022.
A similar video was also posted by Channels TV on its YouTube page the same July 26.
Further checks also indicated that the same video was posted by an X user, @femii_p, on July 25, 2022 as seen here.
Recall that the track and field events of the Paris 2024 Olympics started on August 1, 2024 with the men and women 20 km race walk finals followed by the Decathlon, round 1 of the 100 metres women, and 1500 metres men.
It would run through till August 11, 2024 with the women 100 metres hurdles beginning on August 7, 2024. Thus, the race mentioned by Melaye is yet to hold as at today.
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When The FactCheckHub reviewed the Paris 2024 medal table on its official website, Nigeria was not listed there as of August 3, 2024.
Similarly, the BBC reported zero medal for Nigeria on its Paris Olympics 2024 medal table as of August 3, 2024.
The FactCheckHub had previously debunked claims posted or shared by Senator Dino Melaye as seen here, here and here.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows Tobi Amusan participating in the 100 metres hurdles at the Paris 2024 Olympics is MISLEADING; the video is from Amusan’s sterling performance at the World Athletics Championships held in July 2022.
Seasoned fact-checker and researcher Fatimah Quadri has written numerous fact-checks, explainers, and media literacy pieces for The FactCheckHub in an effort to combat information disorder. She can be reached at sunmibola_q on X or [email protected].
