History of Gymnastics in Nigeria

The story

How gymnastics grew in Nigeria

The governing body for the game of gymnastics in Nigeria - Gymnastics Federation of Nigeria was established in 1975, but Nigerian has not participated fully when it comes to the game of gymnastics.

Therefore to make the game to become popular and better, it can be introduced into various schools in Nigeria, so that aspiring youth will be able to train and promoted in all fields of gymnastics.

Nigeria has not won many medals like other popular sports because of low turn up in some of the competitions and poor performance but nevertheless, the federation is trying its best to make Nigerians win more medals and attend other international championships.

In 2017, eleven Nigerian gymnasts represented the country at African All-Stars Level 4 to 10 System Gymnastics Event in South Africa that was held from August 2nd to August 5th 2017.

Among the 11 gymnasts were 8 females Sefiya Turku, Kaima Ihedioha, Iveren Herlger, Daniela and Amaka Asemota, Nnfonmma Bassey, Whitney Coffi-Spiff and Asemota Gabriella; and 3 males who were Mohammed Haliru, Emeka Ekezie and Uche Eke.

Sometime in 2015, the federation was called upon to train orphanage kids across the country for Olympic gymnastics in order to equip them with the vital tool they need to excel in the field of gymnastics.

In September 2017, the federation conducted a two-day open national trial which was done to select Nigerian merited gymnasts who represented the country at the 2017 World Championships.

In 2018, Nigeria was represented in rhythmic gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia by Jade Faulkner, a former Great Britain Olympian.

She scored 33.800 points after four rotations. Though she did not win a medal, she became the first ever Nigerian female to take part in rhythmic gymnastics at the Commonwealth Games.

Tony Asuquo who is the first certified Nigerian gymnastic coach represented Nigeria in 2007 at the Prime International Gymnastics competition in Singapore where the country won six bronze medals and a trophy, coming 3rd among 17 clubs and countries.

Checked 30 September 2026

Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games and African Games

Nigeria has entered gymnasts at the Commonwealth Games (Tayo Fakiyesi and Jade Faulkner in Gold Coast in 2018) but has not yet won a medal. At the African Games, Uche Eke won pommel horse gold in Rabat in 2019, the first African Games gymnastics gold by a Nigerian.

The next African Games are in Cairo, Egypt, from 20 January to 7 February 2027. See the full medal stories on our Commonwealth Games and African Games pages.