LONDON – Former University of South Alabama track and field standout, Ajoke Odumosu, is scheduled to compete for her home country of Nigeria at the 30^th Olympiad, hosted in London, England, July 27 through Aug. 12.
 
The Lagos, Nigeria, native posted the fastest 400-meter hurdles time of any African female athlete this year at an athletics meeting in Sotteville-lès-Rouen, France, earlier this month, clocking the second-best time of her career with a 54.75-second performance for the win.
 
The season-best mark came only two weeks after Odumosu claimed her second 400-meter hurdles gold medal in three appearances over a four-year span at the biennial African Championships in Athletics. Odumosu has held the Nigerian record in the 400-meter hurdles for two years, after logging a 54.59-second performance for silver at the 2010 International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) Continental Cup in Split, Croatia.
 
Odumosu will be making her second trip to the Olympic Games, as participated at the 2008 Summer Games in Beijing, China, one year following her graduation from South Alabama. Odumosu clocked a personal-best 51.39 in the 400-meter dash in China, advancing to the semifinals where she subsequently finished seventh. She then went on to help the Nigerian 4x400-meter team to seventh-place overall.
 
While with the Jaguars from 2004-07, Odumosu was an eight-time Sun Belt Conference individual champion, recording three titles each in both the outdoor 400-meter dash and 400-meter hurdles and two titles in the indoor one-lap sprint.
 
Odumosu was a three-time NCAA qualifier and was the first female Jaguar to receive All-American honors. In 2006, the SBC named Odumosu to its all-time outdoor team. Odumosu still holds South Alabama records in the indoor and outdoor 400-meter dash, the 400-meter hurdles and the indoor 4x400-meter relay, as part of a team that consisted of  former-Jags Courtney Golston, Nicole Knox and Clarisse Moh.
 
Odumosu made her first appearance for Nigeria while still a Jaguar in 2006 at the World Junior Championships in Beijing, where she finished fifth in the 400-meter hurdles and helped the 4x400-meter relay team claim the silver medal with an African junior-record-setting performance. She won bronze in the hurdles at the 2007 All-Africa Games – the site of her first appearance as a professional. Odumosu earned the first gold medal of her career at the 2008 African Championships in Athletics, but managed only silver at the event in 2010; however she rectified her individual disappointment with a strong showing for the women’s 4x400-meter relay team, which she helped to win gold.
 
The first round of the women’s 400-meter hurdles is scheduled for Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. Results from Odumosu’s races will be posted to the Jaguar athletics webpage immediately following the former USA student-athlete’s events. More information about the London 2012 Olympics can be found via the official website of the Games.
 
For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).