Nigerian world champion Bada dies

The 1997 world 400m champion Sunday Bada of Nigeria died and the sport’s world governing body was shocked to receive the news, the IAAF said in its official website on Wednesday.

“The IAAF on behalf of the global athletics family offers its condolences and sympathy to the family and friends of Sunday Bada who will be sadly missed.”

Bada, born on June 22, 1969, who died at the National Stadium in Lagos on Monday evening, was a former specialist quarter miler of great international renown.

A three-time 400m medallist at the IAAF World Indoor Championships, he took silvers in 1993 (Toronto, Canada) and 1995 (Barcelona, Spain) before setting a still standing African indoor record of 45.51 seconds to take the gold medal in Paris, France in 1997.

The IAAF World Cup winner over the one lap in Havana, Cuba in 1992, Bada’s personal best time outdoors came at the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany when he ran 44.63 in the semifinal round.

In the final, he came fifth which was his highest ever individual placing at the outdoor Worlds or Olympic Games.

A member of the Nigerian 4x400m squad which took bronze at the 1995 IAAF World Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden, Bada was also in the quartet which struck silver (later upgraded to gold on the disqualification of the United States) at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Xinhua