Rudolfine F. Soultan, a close confidant of Nojim Maiyegun, confirmed in a Facebook post late Monday that the legendary boxer and Nigeria’s first Olympic medalist has passed away at the age of 83.
“My Jimmy died. I can’t say more about this right now because it’s just horrible. The day after tomorrow, we would have been together for 17 years,” Soultan wrote.
Maiyegun passed away on Monday morning in Vienna, Austria, where he had been living. He had been battling an undisclosed illness for several months.
At the age of 23, Maiyegun made history by winning Nigeria’s first Olympic medal in boxing, securing a bronze in the light-heavyweight division at the Tokyo 1964 Games. He notably defeated Great Britain’s William Robinson in just under two minutes in the second round and overcame Denmark’s Tom Bogs in the quarter-finals before losing to France’s Joseph Gonzalez in the semi-finals, sharing the bronze with Poland’s Józef Grzesiak.
In 1966, Maiyegun added another bronze to his collection at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. He moved from Nigeria in 1971 to pursue a professional boxing career.
