Francis Obirah Obikwelu, born 22 November 1978 in Nigeria and Portuguese citizen since 2001 is a sprint athlete specializing in 100 m. and 200 m., who finished second in the 100 m. at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece, the first medal ever in athletics sprinting events for Portugal.

From Nigeria to Portugal

He based himself in Lisbon, Portugal as a 16-year-old, after competing at the 1994 World Junior Championships. After being rejected by both SL Benfica and Sporting Lisbon, we worked for a while as a construction worker in Algarve. He decided to learn Portuguese, and his teacher put him in contact with Belenenses, where he restarted practicing.

He then made a decision to run for Portugal. The news was broken in July 2000 by Nigerian sprinter Mercy Nku, who like Obikwelu is based in Lisbon. She said Obikwelu took the decision because of neglect by Nigerian sports officials when he was injured while representing Nigeria in Sydney. "He had to go to Canada to undergo an operation on his knee spending his own money." He became a Portuguese citizen in October 2001.

Both his athletics achievements, his life story and his personality made him a popular figure in his adoptive country, where is nicknamed Chico, the short form of the Portuguese version of his first name.

He currently competes for Sporting Lisbon.

Athens 2004

In the qualifiers he was one of the most impressive runners, managing two times under 10 seconds (beating the Portuguese record). In the final he recovered from a non-medal position in the second half of the race to reach Silver, just one hundredth of a second behind Justin Gatlin and one hundredth ahead of Maurice Greene, managing to beat the European record set by Linford Christie in 1993.

He ended 5th in the 200m final.

Awards and honours

Olympic Games

2nd 100m, Athens, GRE 9.86

World Championships

2nd 4 x 100m Relay 1997 Athens, GRE 38.07

3rd 200m 1999 Seville, ESP 20.11

3rd 4 x 100m Relay 1999 Seville, ESP 37.91

World Indoor Championships

3rd 200m 1997 Paris, FRA 21.10

6th 60m 2004 Budapest, HUN 6.60

Golden League

1st 100m 2004 Saint-Denis, FRA 10.06

1st 200m 2004 Saint-Denis, FRA 20.12

1st 100m 2001 Berlin, GER 9.98

2nd 100m 2002 Brussels, BEL 10.01

3rd 200m 2004 Zurich, SUI 20.36

3rd 200m 2004 Bergen, NOR 20.46

3rd 200m 2002 Brussels, BEL 20.22

3rd 100m 2000 Rome, ITA 10.00

Grand Prix

1st 100m 2002 Lausanne, SUI 10.09

3rd 200m 2001 Athens, GRE 20.59

3rd 200m 2001 Nice, FRA 20.41

Grand Prix Final

3rd 200m 2001 Melbourne, AUS 20.52

5th 100m 2002 Saint-Denis, FRA 10.03

Super Grand Prix

1st 200m 2004 Madrid, ESP 20.29

2nd 100m 2004 Lausanne, SUI 10.02

2nd 200m 2003 Madrid, ESP 20.59

Moreover, Obikwelu was the 1996 world junior champion over 100m and 200m.