{{Short description|British sprinter}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Use British English|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox sportsperson |name = Anyika Onuora |image = Anyika Onuora - Olympic Parade.jpg |caption = Onuora at the Our Greatest Team Parade in 2012 |nationality = British (English) |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1984|10|28|df=yes}} |birth_place = Liverpool, England |height = 1.78 m<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.rio2016.com/en/athlete/anyika-onuora|title=Rio 2016 bio|access-date=28 November 2016|archive-date=26 August 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160826083848/https://www.rio2016.com/en/athlete/anyika-onuora|url-status=dead}}</ref> |weight = 76 kg |show-medals = no |club = Liverpool Harriers |medaltemplates = {{Medal|Sport|Women's athletics}} {{Medal|Country|{{GBR2}}}} {{Medal|Olympic}} {{Medal|Bronze|2016 Rio de Janeiro|4 × 400 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|World Championships}} {{Medal|Bronze|2015 Beijing|4 × 400 m relay}} {{Medal|Competition|World Indoor Championships}} {{Medal|Bronze|2018 Birmingham|4 × 400 m}} {{Medal|Competition|European Championships}} {{Medal|Gold|2014 Zurich|4 × 100 m relay}} {{Medal|Gold|2016 Amsterdam|4 × 400 m relay}} {{Medal|Silver|2006 Gothenburg|4 × 100 m relay}} {{Medal|Bronze|2016 Amsterdam|400 m}} {{Medal|Bronze|2018 Berlin|4 × 400 m relay}} {{Medal|Country|{{ENG}}}} {{Medal|Competition|Commonwealth Games}} {{Medal|Silver|2006 Melbourne|4 × 100 m relay}} {{Medal|Bronze|2014 Glasgow|4 × 100 m relay}} {{Medal|Bronze|2014 Glasgow|4 × 400 m relay}} }}
'''Anyika Onuora''' {{IPAc-en||audio=Ig-Anyika Onuor.ogg}} (born 28 October 1984) is a British retired sprint track and field athlete who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 400 metres, and also the 4 × 100 metres relay and 4 × 400 metres relay.
Specialising in the short sprints and sprint relays in her early career, and despite being part of the Great Britain 4 × 100 metres relay team that took gold at the 2014 European Athletics Championships, a move on her coaches suggestion to the longer 400 sprint and relay in her later career led to her most significant individual and relay successes. In the 4 × 400 metres relay, she won a World Championship bronze medal in 2015, while in 2016 an individual bronze in the 400 metres, and relay gold in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the European Championships were followed by an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay.
==Career== [[File:Anyika Onuora.jpg|thumb|left|Onuora on track at the 2012 Summer Olympics]] Her first major junior international competition was the 2003 European Athletics Junior Championships, where she finished fifth in the 100 m event and won a silver medal with the British 4 × 100 metres relay team. She competed in her first major senior tournaments in 2006: at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games she reached the semi-finals of the 100 m and won her second silver medal in the 4 × 100 m relay with the English team. Five months later at her first European Athletics Championships, she achieved the same feat again, reaching the individual semi-finals and taking another silver medal with the relay team. She also competed in the 2006 IAAF World Cup, representing Europe, but finished last, despite recording a season's best for the team. A technical lane mix-up with the United States team resulted in a poor performance for the British team and disqualification for the American team.<ref name=IAAF>{{cite web|url=https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=gbr/athcode=198322/index.html|title=Onuora Anyika|publisher=IAAF|access-date=13 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214012253/https://www.iaaf.org/athletes/biographies/country=gbr/athcode=198322/index.html|archive-date=14 February 2009|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=BOA>{{cite web|url=https://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=6861|title=Anyika Onuora Athlete Profile|publisher=British Olympic Association|access-date=13 May 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100216150254/https://www.olympics.org.uk/beijing2008/AthleteProfile.aspx?id=6861|archive-date=16 February 2010|url-status=dead}}</ref>
Onuora was chosen to represent Great Britain at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as a back-up runner in the relay team; however, ultimately she did not compete for the team.
She competed at the 2009 Manchester City Games in a 150 metres street race, winning the "B" final of the women's event.<ref>Mills, Steven (14 May 2009). [http://www.athletics-weekly.com/newsarticle.php?id=849 Bolt ready for Manchester date]{{Dead link|date=May 2019|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}. ''Athletics Weekly''. Retrieved 18 May 2009.</ref><ref>{{cite web|last1=Markham|first1=Carl|last2=Butler|first2=Mark|date=17 May 2009|url=https://worldathletics.org/news/news/bolt-runs-1435-sec-for-150m-covers-50m-150m-i|title=Bolt runs 14.35 sec for 150m; covers 50m-150m in 8.70 sec!|publisher=World Athletics|access-date=8 September 2024}}</ref>
On 28 August 2014, she helped set the British record in the Women's 4 × 100 m running the 3rd leg, alongside Asha Philip, Ashleigh Nelson and Desirèe Henry in the Diamond League in Zurich. This broke the British record set 11 days before at the 2014 European Athletics Championships.
She was a member of the bronze medal winning British women's 4 × 400 metres relay team at the 2016 Rio Olympics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/olympics/36691467|title=Rio Olympics 2016: Great Britain women win 4x400m bronze, US take gold|department=BBC Sport|publisher=BBC|date=21 August 2016|access-date=21 August 2016}}</ref>
==Personal life== She was born to Nigerian parents. She is the sister of former footballer Iffy Onuora and the academic Emy Onuora, author of the 2015 book ''Pitch Black'', on the experiences of black British footballers.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bitebackpublishing.com/authors/emy-onuora|title=Emy Onuora|publisher=Biteback Publishing|access-date=29 August 2016}}</ref>
Onuora graduated from Liverpool John Moores University in 2008 with a degree in Economics.
In October 2015, 10 months before winning her bronze medal in Rio 2016, Onuora had become severely unwell from malaria after visiting her late father's home village in Nigeria. Few of her fellow GB athletes were aware that she had been unwell and could not walk due to illness, never mind train in preparation for the Rio Olympics selection trials.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/apr/24/anyika-onuora-untold-story-britain-rio-olympic-nearly-died|title=Anyika Onuora: The untold story of Britain's Rio Olympic medal winner who nearly died|work=The Guardian|date=24 April 2017|access-date=8 September 2024}}</ref> Despite this, she qualified for the Olympics, and by 2016 had recovered sufficiently to win gold and bronze medals in Amsterdam and Rio.
==Personal bests== {| class=wikitable |- !Event !Best !Location !Date |- |60 metres |7.31 s |Bratislava, Slovakia |29 January 2006 |- |100 metres |11.18 s |Zeulenroda, Germany |29 May 2011 |- |200 metres |22.64 s |Glasgow, Great Britain |31 July 2014 |- |400 metres |50.87 s |Beijing, China |25 August 2015 |} *<small>All information taken from IAAF profile.</small><ref name=IAAF/>
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *{{Power of 10}} *{{Team GB|5IfBVwswxWP7x9nzAwoxZV}} *{{Olympics.com}} *{{Team England|anyika-onuora}} *{{Commonwealth Games Federation}} *{{2018 Commonwealth Games profile|athletics/athlete-profile-n6037065-anyika-onuora}}
{{Footer European Champions 4x400 m Women}} {{British Athletics Championships women's 200 metres champions}} {{British Athletics Championships women's 400 metres champions}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Onuora, Anyika}} Category:1984 births Category:Living people Category:Athletes from Liverpool Category:English women sprinters Category:British women sprinters Category:Olympic women sprinters Category:Olympic athletes for Great Britain Category:Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Category:Olympic bronze medalists in athletics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Category:World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Category:World Athletics Championships medalists Category:World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists Category:European Athletics Championships winners Category:British Athletics Championships winners Category:European Athletics Championships medalists Category:English people of Nigerian descent Category:Sportspeople of Nigerian descent Category:Black British sportswomen Category:Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Category:Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Category:21st-century English sportswomen Category:Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Category:Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics