Annette Echikunwoke discovered her remarkable talent in junior high during a track and field day. Attempting the traditional throwing events – shot put and discus – she outshined everyone, throwing the weighted objects farther than many of her peers.
From then on, Echikunwoke knew throwing was a sport she wanted to continue doing.
She never expected to be the first woman in U.S.A. Olympic team history to win a medal in hammer throwing, less than two decades later.
Nigerian-American
Echikunwoke was born to Nigerian immigrant parents, Godwin and Christina, in Canal Winchester, later moving to Pickerington when she was 10 years old.
Her family’s Nigerian culture significantly influenced her childhood experience. She has fond memories of making soup and jollof rice with her mother and attending frequent get-togethers with other Nigerians and family living in the area.
While she learned about her Nigerian culture at home, she attended Pickerington Local Schools and experienced a melting pot of American culture.
“I didn’t realize it then, but (Pickerington) had great diversity within the school district, so I met all different types of people because I was never the type of person to just be in like one group or another,” she says.
Strong scholar
After graduating from Pickerington North High School in 2014, Echikunwoke attended the University of Cincinnati and was introduced to hammer throwing by her coach, Susan Seaton.
As a freshman, she performed very well but didn’t see herself continuing the sport after college graduation. However, after winning several national titles, breaking the University’s record in hammer throwing four times and taking first place at the American Athletic Conference during her sophomore year, she started to think she might have a shot at competing professionally.
She credits Seaton, who is still her coach to this day, for her improvement and successes.
“I’m going on 11 years now (with Seaton), so we’ve been working together for a while…I trust her the most when it comes to my career,” Echikunwoke says. “She looks after all of her athletes and holds us accountable of our goals and things that we strive for…I don’t see myself having another coach.”
Echikunwoke continued to break records and make herself known in the track and field world over the next few years before graduating in 2018. After much deliberation, Echikunwoke decided to continue competing post-collegiately.
“Hesitancies had come from seeing other people try to strive for this, and they might have done well, but then, they’re still struggling within track and field,” she says. “It was like, ‘Do I want to be in this realm? Is it really worth it for me to do this?’ And with little reward, honestly? And I just felt like the Lord kept telling me, ‘But you need to, you need to do this,’ and affirming it in so many different ways.”
On the world stage
Echikunwoke was preparing to represent Nigeria in the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo when her plans suddenly fell apart. Her entire team was barred from competing due to missing mandatory doping tests ahead of the Games. She found out she wouldn’t be competing on her 25th birthday.
She was crushed by the news and disappointed by the team officials’ negligence. However, she didn’t give up on her Olympic dreams, deciding to try out for the U.S.A. Track & Field team ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.
“I’m a big believer that everything happens for a reason, … there’s always something for it,” Echikunwoke says. “When I wasn’t able to compete, I was very distraught...I didn’t want to keep going if I’m being honest, but there was this line of like, ‘I should keep going.’ No matter how depressed I was, no matter how sad I was, I needed to keep going.”
At first, Echikunwoke doubted her ability to make the U.S.A. team, but she soon realized that anything could happen in the sport of track and field. She shocked the throwing world, taking home first place in the hammer throw at the U.S. Olympic Team Trials and solidifying her place on the team.
She eventually was able to picture herself taking home a medal at the games.
“I was talking with a coach, and he was saying how he talked with a lot of Olympians, and a lot of medalists, and was saying how every single one of them, even if they were counted out by major-media or whatever, all of them had this idea and belief that they could do it,” she says.
In Paris, she placed second, earning a silver medal in hammer throwing, the first women’s hammer-throwing Olympic medal Team USA has ever earned.
On to the next one
After returning to Pickerington, Echikunwoke received a key to the city and was honored in the Labor Day parade. She also recently attended her 10-year high school reunion and was overjoyed to see her peers again.
“It’s just the sense of like, ‘Okay, these are my people,’” she says.
Echikunwoke is training to compete in future championship meets, the earliest being the World Championships in Tokyo in 2025. Ultimately, she hopes to qualify for the Team USA ahead of the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“I think this Olympics was a redemption, but then going back to Tokyo will be another redemption,” she says.
Her schedule is hectic, to say the least. Not only does she train, sometimes for several hours, every day to compete at the highest level, she also has a full-time job in marketing.
Though she faces many challenges, Echikunwoke’s Christian faith and intrinsic motivation keep her focused and inspired.
“Some days I’ll just lay on the floor and be like, ‘Why am I doing this? This is so much,” she says. “(I take things) one day at a time, appreciate the moments, because there are a lot of good moments in all the hard ones.”
She hopes to acquire sponsorships or brand deals that would allow her to be a full-time athlete. Whether she does or not, she is eager to see what the future has in store.
“All good things take time for it to be worth it,” Echikunwoke says. “And so holding to that idea, then whatever post-track holds for me, whatever time in track holds for me, I’m ready for it.”

Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.