Elizabeth Anyanacho is working her way to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games after a disappointing first round exit at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The 24-year-old was Nigeria’s sole representative at the 2023 African Taekwondo Championships in Abidjan where she won a silver medal. OLALEKAN OKUSAN chronicles Anyanacho‘s exploits since she moved to Germany to improve her skills in the martial arts ahead of next year’s crucial Olympic Games qualifiers in Senegal.
Elizabeth Anyanacho qualification for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games was least expected since her romance with taekwondo was less than four years.
With stiff opposition from some established athletes in Nigeria, Anyanacho braved the odds to pick the ticket to Tokyo 2020 as the second Nigeria female athlete to qualify for the quadrennial event after Princess Dudu at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Despite being under the tutelage of Olympian Chika Chukwumerije, Anyanacho’s stay in Tokyo lasted just three minutes as she was sent packing by an experienced Turkish opponent.
She was inconsolable after the defeat, it took the plea from then Sports Minister Sunday Dare before Anyanacho could recover from the early loss at her maiden outing at the Olympic Games.
For months, she was away from the sport but with the moral support from her mentor, Chukwumerije, Anyanacho has since picked up the pieces of her life to get back into the sport that brought her into the limelight.
In fact, she returned to the court to continue her dominance of her weight category at the national level as an undefeated national champion.
Competing internationally, she picked her first medal at the African championships to earn one of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Scholarships to move to Taekwondo Competence Center (TCC), Friedrichshafen in Germany.
Since moving to Germany, Anyanacho has grown in confidence by competing across the globe as Nigeria’s most active taekwondist as well as the highest ranked Nigerian at 35th position in the women’s 67kg category.
This year, Anyanacho has won medals in several competitions such as China 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix (silver), Paris 2023 World Taekwondo Grand Prix (quarterfinalist), Luxembourg Open 2023 (gold), Austrian Open 2023 (bronze), 2023 Dutch Open (silver) and Slovenia Open 2023 (silver).
At the 2023 African Championship in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire, Anyanacho made her presence felt waltzing her way to the final to win Nigeria’s sole silver medal in the competition.
But her journey to the podium did not come without its challenges as she was pitted against Mali’s Iman Kanoute in the quarterfinal.
The Nigerian showed class to beat her Malian opponent on points in the three rounds encounter to set up a semi-final bout against one of the top contestants in the weight category, Aya Shehata of Egypt.
The semi-final encounter against the Egyptian was keenly contested as the Egyptian won the first round 3-2.
But Anyanacho returned stronger in the second round with a dominant performance to win at 6-2, which led to the deciding tie in the third round.
Just like she did in the second round, Anyanacho ensured all her kicks hit her opponent and this paved the way for her 5-2 win to secure her place in the final against number one seed Ruth Gbabi of Cote d’Ivoire.
Being with huge support from the home fans, Gbabi, an Olympic medallist relied on her experience to defeat Anyanacho who settled for the silver medal as the Ivorian retained the gold medal she won at the 2022 edition in Rwanda as the best fighter in the weight division.
“I thank God for the courage and strength He gave me,” she said of her experience. “I felt a little bit sad because I really wanted the gold medal, but I am happy that I fought till the end.
“Also, Ruth, my opponent is very experienced and very tough; so, it was a great fight with the number one in Africa in my weight category and this has also given an idea of what to expect at the Olympic Games qualifiers in 2024.
“The lessons I got from the African Taekwondo Championship in Abidjan are that I still need to work on my reaction, though it has improved, but I believe it can be better,” the 24-year-old added.
She equally shared the experience she had garnered from the Germany training centre.
“I have been in the Taekwondo Competence Center (TCC) Germany for 18 months now, and the Lord has been really faithful,” she said. “I have learnt a lot and gained more knowledge about my sport; I now better understand most of the lessons I got from Chika Chukwumerije Sports Foundation (CCSF) where my roots began, and also, I got to compete a lot too.
“So it has been a great journey with the Lord and with my sports too.
“It has a positive impact on me. I have learnt how to focus when I am tired in a match, I have learnt how to be calculative during a match, and I have also been able to know how to be intentional about my improvement. There is still much to improve, but I am grateful for the growth.”
Anyanacho however, admitted that despite the gains, it has not been a bed of roses for her :“It hasn’t been easy because this is the first time I have been exposed to lots of competitions. At first, it felt so tiring for my body, but now my body has adjusted to it.”
Faced with several tournaments to compete before the Olympics qualifiers, she said: “One can never be too ready, so I am still working as hard as before, and I will give my best by the grace of God at every tournament before the Olympics qualifiers.”
On her weaknesses, she said: “I need to learn how to handle aggression and build my aggression, too.
“Of course, I miss home but I talk to my family almost every day. But I know it is one of the sacrifices I have to make so that I can make them proud,” she said.
