Stephen Mozia
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| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | August 16, 1993 Hackensack, New Jersey, United States[1] | ||||||||||||||
| Education | Cornell University | ||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||
| Weight | 124 kg (273 lb) | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||
| Country | Nigeria | ||||||||||||||
| Sport | Track and field | ||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | Shot put Discus Throw | ||||||||||||||
| College team | Cornell Big Red[2] | ||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||
| Personal best(s) | Outdoor Shot Put 21.76 (2016) Indoor Shot Put 21.11 (2016) Discus Throw 62.80 (2014) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||
Stephen Ogochukwu Mozia (born August 16, 1993) is a US-born Nigerian shot putter.[3] He is a three-time African Championships Bronze medallist. He also represented his country at the 2014 and 2016 World Indoor Championships, as well as the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Personal
[edit]He was born and raised in the United States though his parents were born in Nigeria. Early in 2014, due to his dual citizenship, began competing for the Nigeria National Team.[1] He attended Hackensack High School where he was a standout athlete. He initially started out as a sprinter but decided to move to the throws because he was too slow. Mozia is a Mechanical Engineering graduate of Cornell University, where he was a member of the Quill and Dagger society. He currently works as the OT practice manager for Optiv.[4]
Career
[edit]After winning the US Junior championships in 2012, he represented the USA at the World Junior Championships where he finished in 10th place.[5] In 2014, Mozia set college bests of 62.80 m and 20.79 m in the Discus Throw and Indoor Shot Put. His 20.79 m throw at the Ivy League Championships eclipsed Adam Nelson's Ivy League Indoor Record. He is also a two-time Ivy League Track Athlete of the Year.[6] He finished twice as runner-up in the Shot Put at the 2014 NCAA Indoor and Outdoor Division 1 National Championships both times behind Ryan Crouser.
Later on in 2014, he represented Nigeria at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games and then at the African Championships in Marrakech. He won a bronze medal in the Discus Throw behind South African athletes, Victor Hogan and Russel Tucker. This led to him being selected for the IAAF Continental Cup as a representative for Africa.
Mozia broke into new territory in 2016, throwing over 21 metres in the Shot Put. He threw 21.03 m to set a Nigerian indoor record and bettered that twice eventually ending the indoor season with a 21.11 m throw.[7] He however couldn't match this at the Portland Indoor Championships. In Portland, he finished in 12th place with a best of 19.84 m and had two fouls. He won Nigeria's first medal at the 2016 Durban African Championships, a bronze medal in the Shot Put. He finished behind South African Jaco Engelbrecht and Franck Elemba of the Democratic Republic of Congo.[8] He went on to win another bronze medal in the Discus Throw, again behind Hogan and Tucker of South Africa.[9]
After the Durban African Championships, he threw an outdoor PB and Nigerian Record of 20.82 m. Four days later he launched another record breaking throw of 21.27 m at the Athletics Grand Prix Usti nad Labem in Czech Republic. This was his first outdoor throw over 21 metres. He went on to better this with a 21.76 throw later in the competition. This took him up to second place in the All-Time African rankings behind Janus Robberts.[10]
In 2016 he was selected to participate in the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Jaineiro where he competed in the shot put and finished 28th overall. In addition, he has a best of 62.80 metres in the discus throw (Jacksonville 2014) which is also a Nigerian record.
Competition record
[edit]| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing the  United States | |||||
| 2012 | World Junior Championships | Barcelona, Spain | 10th | Shot put (6 kg) | 19.45 m |
Representing  Nigeria | |||||
| 2014 | World Indoor Championships | Sopot, Poland | 17th (q) | Shot put | 18.91 m |
| Commonwealth Games | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 14th (q) | Shot put | 17.76 m | |
| African Championships | Marrakech, Morocco | 4th | Shot put | 17.65 m | |
| 3rd | Discus throw | 57.11 m | |||
| Continental Cup | Marrakech, Morocco | 7th | Discus throw | 57.31 m1 | |
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships | Portland, United States | 12th | Shot put | 19.84 m |
| African Championships | Durban, South Africa | 3rd | Shot put | 19.84 m | |
| 3rd | Discus throw | 59.16 m | |||
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 28th (q) | Shot put | 18.98 m | |
| 2018 | Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia | 7th | Discus throw | 59.58 m |
1Representing Africa
References
[edit]- ^ a b 2014 CWG bio
- ^ College team bio
- ^ "Stephen Mozia". IAAF. March 19, 2016. Retrieved March 19, 2016.
- ^ MakingOf Champs (June 23, 2016), Stephen Mozia - NGR -Shot put - Bronze Medallist at the African Championships, Durban 20, retrieved July 24, 2016
- ^ "Stephen Mozia - 2014-15 Men's Track and Field". Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "Cornell's And Nigeria's 20-Year-Old Stephen Mozia Fails To Advance To Finals, But Catches Eyes Of Fellow Competitors In Men's Shot Put - LetsRun.com". March 7, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "Interview: Stephen Mozia". Throwers Unite. February 18, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "African Senior Athletics Championship: Stephen Mozia Wins Team Nigeria's 1st Medal In Shot-Put | Sahara Sport". saharareporterssport.com. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ Olusesan, Olubode (June 24, 2016). "Mozia grabs second medal in Durban | Punch Newspapers". Retrieved July 24, 2016.
- ^ "Mozia extends Nigerian Shot Put record to 21.76m – AthleticsAfrica". July 19, 2016. Retrieved July 24, 2016.
