Fasuba: From athletics to football coaching, cyber security
Former African record holder in the men’s 100m, Olusoji Fasuba, doesn’t argue when he is regarded as a man of many talents.
Before becoming a professional sprinter, Fasuba was also known for his prowess in other sports like football, basketball, and table tennis, among others.
After winning laurels for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games, African Games, World Indoor Championships and the Olympics, Fasuba left the athletics scene before clocking 30.
To date, a lot of Nigerians feel he left the stage when he still had so much inside him but the 40-year-old is still following his passion in sports and even in other fields.
Having spent over a decade in the United Kingdom, Fasuba is now chairing the board of a football club, Plymouth Hooe in Plymouth, having served as their coach for three years and will soon graduate with a Bachelor’s Degree in Cyber Security from the UK Open University.
For the Olympic bronze medallist, coaching was a journey of bringing out another sporty side of him while pursuing a degree in Cyber Security is just another dream that is being fulfilled.
“As a kid, I was quite talented because I did football, basketball, table tennis and athletics and my son wanted to do football and that’s when I decided to bring out that part of me,” Fasuba told NewsNGR Sports Extra.
“I think it’s been successful because I have been able to bring a team that was bottom of the league up to leading that division at the moment.
“It was a great learning experience for me because the rules for kids are quite different and I would have loved to continue it but there are other things I could do to help the team grow. My experience improved massively in terms of youth football and development.”
The former Nigerian athlete had to get coaching certifications to get the job done and he explained the nature of what he intends to build as the chairman of the board at the club, and how it aligns with the goals of the founding organisation.
“It’s an U-13 youth team which my son plays for. Now we have played 13 matches and won nine and drew three and we lead by almost six points. The team integrates people from different ethnicities into the UK system and that’s one thing I believe in and I used my knowledge in coaching. We also have a U-10 team that won their league last year and with time, we will also have more age categories,” he told NewsNGR Sports Extra.
“It’s for a charity organisation and the football part of it was lacking in the area of management so I handed over the team to another coach to chair the board and push the club higher.”
When Fasuba joined the Royal Navy in 2011, he was said to be looking for a more settled life for his family after retiring from athletics.
As of then, he didn’t have a degree and he realised he needed more than laurels to live life, having also promised his parents to get a degree since athletics didn’t allow him to graduate at the Obafemi Awolowo University.
“At first, I was confused about what I wanted to do when I joined the Navy in 2011. I thought about mathematics because I was good in that, I also thought about psychology but I was like let me be patient until I found Cyber Security which is the love of my life,” Fasuba told our correspondent.
“I think the navy has given me the platform to better myself. Before I joined, I had no degree, just my WAEC and I remember I told my parents that I was leaving school to do athletics for them. I aimed to go back and get a degree and I have been able to achieve that as I am in my final year and hopefully by October, I will have my BSc in Cyber Security.”
Indeed, Fasuba seems to have settled his family as he currently combines his work with the Navy as well as the club and studies with mentoring his daughter, Annabelle, who has been shattering age-grade athletics records in the UK. His son is also in the football team which he is growing and the former African record holder says there is still a lot to come from his children.
“I don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet. People are seeing Annabelle now but they’ve not even seen her sister. I’m just here supporting their coach and mentoring at the same time.”
As someone who is well connected to his roots, Fasuba still follows Nigerian athletics keenly and also hopes to set up a cybersecurity firm in Nigeria.
“One of my dreams has been to set up in Nigeria. Whether in training or helping the government. Once I’m ready, the market in Nigeria is very large and I hope to tap into that. At the moment, I’m almost looking at a Master’s and PhD already.
“I’ve always loved computers as a kid and I believe in living my dreams which has always been to protect. I think cyber security gave me that avenue to be able to do that in the sense that there are a lot of hackers, ‘yahoo-yahoo’ boys if I am going to use that term, and I’m trying to protect people because of the negative effect these people have. So, I believe I will enjoy protecting innocent people and that is why I picked cyber security.”
As he follows the trend of Nigerian athletics for another season, he hopes to see radical changes that will change the sport in the country.
“Yes I do a lot of things but I’m a big follower of Nigerian athletics especially the sprints because what I predicted some years back is happening and they are still making the same mistake. But with the new set up of the NSC under Sheu Dikko and Bukola Olopade, I think Nigeria is in for a big change and I’m looking forward to how far they are going to take that.”
Fasuba won the African Championships title in 2004 and was also a member of the Nigerian team that won bronze in the 4 x 100 m relay at the Athens 2004 Olympic Games.
He was also on the 60m title at the World Indoor Championships, Valencia 2008.
Before then, Fasuba had set the African men’s 100m record of 9.85s at the Doha Grand Prix in May 2006, beating the 1996 record set by Frankie Fredericks (9.86s).
His record stood till 2021 when South Africa’s Akanni Simbine lowered it to 9.84s before Kenyan sprinter Ferdinand Omanyala set a new record for 9.77s the same year.
