Biography of Emmanuel Ifeajuna , The first ever black African to win a gold medal

Welcome to South-Eastern tv , in this video we bring to you the history of the first ever black African to win a gold medal, a Biafran soldier, a man whom his image was on the cover of every excise books / note books between late 70ths and early 90ths.
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His involvement in politics and later military activities have made many people forget that Emmanuel Arinze Ifeajuna was the first ever black African to win a gold medal at an international sports event .
Born in onitsha , Anambra state Nigeria in 1935, Ifeajuna was a high jumper, a skill he learnt while still in school. He participated in national competitions including the 1954 Nigerian Athletics Championships that saw him establish his name as a prolific high jumper. After jumping 6 foot 5.5 inches (1.97 m) at this competition, he qualified to represent his country at the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games.
While in Vancouver where the competition took place, Ifeajuna broke both the competition and the British Empire records in high jump. He did all this without his right shoe. He was considered a hero and received such a grand welcome, complete with a parade when he returned to Nigeria after the competition. He became such a celebrity that his photo was used on the cover of exercise books in Nigeria.
He, however, stopped training in the game and opted to go back to school. He joined the University College of Ibadan, where he became involved in student politics and became friends with some of Nigeria’s biggest poets, J.P Clark and Christopher Okigbo. Ifeajuna would organise a number of protests, but would not participate in many of them according to the accounts of his friends and schoolmates.
After completing his university studies, he went to Abeokuta to teach but left the profession in 1960 to join the military. Because of his education, Ifeajuna rose the ranks to become a Major in 1966.
Dissatisfied with how the government was running affairs after independence, Ifeajuna became a plotter of Nigeria’s bloodiest coup together with Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu, Timothy Onwuatuegwu, Chris Anuforo, Don Okafor, Adewale Ademoyega and Humphrey Chukwuka.
It is recorded that Ifeajuna not only arrested then-Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (who later died in detention) but also killed other army officials including Brigadier Zakariya Maimalari, who had come to him for help and Lieutenant Colonel Abogo Largema.

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Emmanuel Arinze Efeajuna