Divine Oduduru

Under-20 competition

He was the gold medalist in both the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 2013 African Youth Athletics Championships.^[16] He was a finalist in the 200 m at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics.^[17] He won the 200 m at the 2013 African Junior Championships^[17] and was also a member of the Gold medal winning 4 × 100 m relay quartet.^[18] He successfully defended his 200 m title at the 2015 African Junior Championships and also added the 100 m and 4 × 100 m gold medals to his tally.^[19] This made him a five-time African Junior Champion.

Oduduru became known for his interviews, with his interviews at the 2013 World Youth Championships in Athletics gaining popularity among fans, including his phrase 'deadly day'.^[20][21] Memes and videos have been generated using his responses to journalists. He lamented the inadequate support for Nigerian athletes and made a plea for sponsorship during the 2016 Nigeria Championships.^[22]

In 2014, he dipped under 21 seconds for the first time. He became the Nigerian National Champion in the 200 metres.^[23] After setting a PB of 20.66 s in the semifinals at the 2014 World Junior Championships, he went on to win the silver medal in a windy 20.25 s behind Trentavis Friday of the US.^[24]

Senior career

He led off the Nigerian 4x100 metres relay team at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, a team supported by former American athletes, Monzavous Edwards and Mark Jelks, who were running for Nigeria in their first international relay.^[25][26]

Due to illness, he pulled out of the 2015 Nigerian Championships and could not defend his 200 m title. He, however, bounced back for the All-Africa Games in Brazzaville. Oduduru ran a PB of 20.45 s into a headwind of 1.2 m/s to win the silver medal behind Ivorian sprinter, Hua Wilfried Koffi.^[27] His team mate and 2015 Nigerian champion Tega Odele placed third. Oduduru was selected for the 200 m at the 2016 African Championships in Durban. After posting the second-fastest time in the semifinals, he did not run in the finals due to injury.^[28]

At the 2018 Michael Johnson Invitational meet in Waco, Texas, Divine improved his personal best in the 100 m to 10.10 s, improving the Texas Tech school record by 0.01 s.^[29][6] A year later at the same meet he improved his personal bests and set world-leading times of 9.94 s and 19.76 s, in the 100 m and 200 m respectively.^[7] His time in the 200 m broke the national record of 19.84 s set by Francis Obikwelu in 1999.^[30]

During 2019, he focused mainly on collegiate competition. He set a personal best in the 60-meter dash at the 2019 Big 12 Indoor Championships, running 6.52 seconds for the distance to win the regional title. He also won the 200 m Big 12 Indoor title.^[31][32] At the 2019 NCAA Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships he won the 200 m title and placed seventh in the 60 m final. At the Big 12 Outdoor Championships, he won the 100 m in 9.99 seconds, having broken the 10-second barrier for the first time at the earlier Michael Johnson Invitational meet. He also helped the Texas Tech Red Raiders to the 4 × 100 m relay title. At the 2019 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships, he won a sprint double in the 100 m and 200 m, as well as taking third in the 4 × 100 m relay. His 100 m time of 9.86 seconds was the fastest in the world at that point of the season, and his 200 m time of 19.73 seconds was a championships record.^[33]

Oduduru made his debut on the 2019 IAAF Diamond League circuit at the 2019 Herculis meet, but finished in last place.^[8]

Doping ban

In October 2023, Oduduru was issued with a six-year ban for anti-doping rule violations relating to use of human growth hormones and EPO.^[34][35] The ban is set to run until February 2029 with all of his results from July 12, 2021 were disqualified.^[36] The investigation was connected to the case of Blessing Okagbare, his compatriot who was banned for 11 years in 2022.

Personal bests

Seasonal bests

International competitions

More information Year, Competition ...

Representing  Nigeria

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Time	Wind (m/s)	Notes
2013	African Youth Championships	Warri, Nigeria	1st	100 m	10.62	+0.7
			1st	200 m	21.56	−1.5	PB
			3rd	Medley relay	1:54.58	—N/a	PB[37]
	World Youth Championships	Donetsk, Ukraine	21st	100 m	11.05	−1.3	[38]
			1st (semi 2)	Medley relay	1:52.90	—N/a	Q[note 1], PB
			6th	200 m	21.37	−1.0
	African Junior Championships	Réduit, Mauritius	1st	4×100 m relay	40.36	—N/a	PB
			1st	200 m	21.19	−3.6
2014	World Junior Championships	Eugene, OR, United States	2nd	200 m	20.25 w	+2.3	Wind-assisted
			5th	4×100 m relay	39.66	—N/a	PB
	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, Scotland	6th	4×100 m relay	40.17	—N/a
	African Championships	Marrakesh, Morocco	1st (semi 1)	4×100 m relay	39.51	—N/a	Q[note 2], PB
			6th	200 m	20.81	−0.8
2015	African Junior Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	1st	100 m	10.44	−1.1	SB
			1st	200 m	21.22	−2.3
			1st	4×100 m relay	39.99	—N/a	SB
	World Relays	Nassau, Bahamas	DQ (semi 1)	4×200 m relay	—	—N/a	Passing outside zone[41]
	African Games	Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo	1st (semi 2)	4×100 m relay	38.97	—N/a	Q[note 3], PB
			2nd	200 m	20.45	−1.2	PB
2016	African Championships	Durban, South Africa	1st (semi 3)	200 m	20.48	+1.6	Q[note 4]
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	20th	200 m	20.59	−0.3	[44]
2018	African Championships	Asaba, Nigeria	2nd	4×100 m relay	38.74	—N/a	PB[45]
			2nd	200 m	20.60	NWI	[45][46]
2019	African Games	Rabat, Morocco	2nd	4×100 m relay	38.59	—N/a
			2nd	200 m	20.54	−0.8
	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	22nd (sf)	200 m	20.84	−0.1
2021	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	DQ (heat 5)	100 m	—	+0.6	False start
			9th (sf)	200 m	20.16	−0.2

Close

National competitions

• NCAA results from Track & Field Results Reporting System.^[50]

Track records

As of September 2024, Oduduru holds the following track records for 100 metres and 200 metres.