Ene Franca Idoko

Ene Francisca “Franca” Idoko-Isaac listenⓘ (born 15 June 1985, in Benue State) is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres.[1] Her personal best time over 100 m is 11.14 seconds, achieved in July 2008 in Abuja. Her personal best time over 60 m is 7.09 seconds, achieved in February 2008 in Chemnitz. Thus, Ene was known as Olympic Games Silver medallist, African Championships Silver medallist and Olympic Games finalist.[2]

Ene Franca Idoko

Married life

Ene France Idoko married Uche Isaac, who is also a Nigerian sprinter. She then changed her name to Franca Idoko-Isaac.[3][4] She left sports, which has been part of her for ten years, when she became pregnant. Idoko-Isaac had a baby boy named Chris Uche Isaac and stayed away from sports for two years to nurse her baby.[5]

Career in sports

Ene won the bronze medal with the African 4 x 100 metres relay team at the 2006 IAAF World Cup. In 60 metres she finished seventh at the 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships. At the 2008 African Championships she finished fourth in the 100 metres. At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing she competed at the 100 metres sprint. In her first round heat she placed fourth, normally causing elimination, but her time of 11.61 seconds was among the ten fastest losing times, which gave her a spot in the second round. There she failed to qualify for the semi-finals as her time of 11.66 was only the seventh time of her heat.[1]

Together with Gloria Kemasuode, Agnes Osazuwa and Oludamola Osayomi she also took part in the 4x100 metres relay. In their first round heat they placed fourth behind Belgium, Great Britain and Brazil. Their time of 43.43 seconds was the best non-directly qualifying time and the sixth time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result they qualified for the final in which they replaced Osazuwa with Halimat Ismaila. They sprinted to a time of 43.04 seconds, a third place and a bronze medal behind Russia and Belgium.[1] In 2016, the Russian team was disqualified and stripped of their gold medal due to doping violations by one of the Russian runners, Yuliya Chermoshanskaya, thereby promoting Nigeria to the silver medal position.[6] Ene Franca Idoko said “It is a great feeling, having a bronze medal before and now silver.[7] She is also excited to be addressed as an Olympics silver medalist.[8]

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Nigeria
2006 African Championships Bambous, Mauritius 2nd 4 × 100 m relay 44.52
2007 All-Africa Games Algiers, Algeria 4th 100 m 11.46
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 43.85
World Championships Osaka, Japan 11th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 43.58
2008 World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 7th 60 m 7.30
African Championships Addis Ababa, Ethiopia 4th 100 m 11.47
Olympic Games Beijing, China 35th (qf) 100 m 11.66
2nd 4 × 100 m relay 43.04

References
  1. "Athlete biography: Franca Idoko". Archived from the original on 10 September 2008. Retrieved 27 August 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link), beijing2008.cn, ret: 27 August 2008
  2. "Francisca IDOKO | Profile | World Athletics". worldathletics.org. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. "Get us our silver medals, Franca Idoko-Isaac cries out to the NOC". 21 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. "Idoko stages comeback with baby in arm". Vanguard News. 19 February 2010. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  5. "Franca is back after maternity break, with Doha a possibility". 2005/11 Edition - AthleticsAfrica. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  6. "Russia stripped of Beijing 2008 women's relay gold after positive retest by team member". insidethegames.biz. 16 August 2016.
  7. "Athletics is dead in Nigeria —Franca Idoko". Tribune Online. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  8. "Athletics is dead in Nigeria —Franca Idoko". Tribune Online. 23 August 2016. Retrieved 25 March 2022.


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