'A calm fighter can weather any storm'

As African heavyweight boxing champion Adam Olaore contemplates his Olympic debut, the 22-year-old has the clearest of role models in his pursuit of glory - two-time world champion Anthony Joshua.

As well as a shared connection with Nigeria and England, Olaore has emulated one of the London 2012 gold medallist's noteworthy early titles.

Born in Lagos in 2002, Olaore moved with his family at the age of six to England, winning the English National Amateur Championships last year - just as Joshua, whose early schooling was in Nigeria, did before him.

Despite 15 years in the UK - his family settled in London before seeking a calmer and more affordable life in Newcastle in 2014 - Olaore's choice was ultimately easy when Nigeria came calling last year.

“I don’t have my British passport, so I’m a resident, not a British citizen,” he told BBC Sounds' Paris: Grassroots to Glory.

“To box for Great Britain, I’d have to wait some time - but boxing is a young man’s sport, so you never know how long you have.

“We had an opportunity, at short notice, to represent Nigeria, which the whole team thought was the way to go.”

Olaore duly became African champion in his first international competition.

While no Nigerian boxer competed at Tokyo 2020, Olaore qualified for Paris 2024 last September and then also took the African Games title earlier this year.

His achievement is even more impressive when you consider that he only became a heavyweight after the International Olympic Committee scrapped his preferred lighter weight division.

Nigeria's first ever Olympic medal came in boxing in 1964. Five more had arrived by 1996, but they are yet to add to that total. Olaore is eyeing gold with laser-guided focus.

He chanced upon his sport as a 14-year-old when a friend spotted a boxing gym as they were walking around "bored" in his home town, and his self-belief has grown with his trophy collection.

“When I won my first youth national championship four years ago, it was not just me saying it - it was a reality because I had performed and succeeded at national level,” he explained.

“I’m pretty confident - my reach, my speed, my calmness in the ring. I always believe a calm fighter can weather any storm. Most fighters bring ‘rough weather’ to you, so if you’re calm enough, there are no worries.”

Olaore became youth champion aged 17, six months after starting regular sparring in a gym near Newcastle.

“I’m as Geordie as they come now,” smiles the African contender, before mentioning the coach who has mentored him for seven years.

Olaore first came across Richard Stoneham at Newcastle's Howdon Boxing Academy, where he competed in 12 fights and two national finals during his first full season as an amateur.

Olaore then moved to the Empire School of Boxing in Blyth, a seaside town 30km north of Newcastle where he trains under Stoneham and head coach Les Welsh.

“I’m sure everybody in Howdon and Blyth will be screaming at their TV sets,” Welsh predicted of Olaore’s impending action.

“Both areas need a lift anyway, so we’re just happy. It’s a great story. To have Adam rock up on [Nigeria's] doorstep, ready-made, must have been like a gift from heaven.”

Having fought at cruiserweight - the division between light heavyweight and heavyweight - until April 2023, Olaore moved up to win last year’s African Boxing Championships in the Cameroonian capital Yaounde.

A month later, the previously unknown fighter repeated the feat in the continent’s Olympic qualifiers in Dakar, beating opponents from Ivory Coast, host nation Senegal, Morocco and Algeria to ensure Nigeria had a male boxer at the Games for the first time since 2016.

In March, Olaore effectively won a third African crown by becoming African Games heavyweight champion in Ghana, where he soaked up the experience of fighting in Accra’s Bukom district, a mecca for the continent’s boxing over many years.

The tournaments have allowed him opportunities to return to a continent he once called home.

“I’ve been back a couple of times now in the past year and seen family – it means a lot to them and to me," said Olaore.

The ambitious fighter, who calls himself a "hunter", freely spoke of wanting to win Olympic gold even before he qualified for Paris, where he wants to go one step further than the three silvers Nigeria have previously won – albeit none since 1992.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead because you might trip over the hurdle in front of you,” said the Northumbria University graduate in sports science.

“So I’m going to keep focusing on the Olympics, see what comes and then I’ll focus on becoming professional afterwards.

"There’s a job at hand, which is preparing for the Olympics. I’m not feeling too overwhelmed.

“I’m now an Olympian, which not many can say. It's going to hit me fully when I step foot into that athletes’ village.

"When we get out there, it might be a bit different because reality is going to be right in front of me.

"But I feel that when I’m there, with all the preparation done, I should be ready for one thing only - and that’s to aim for the gold.”

If Olaore can hit his target, he will be well on his way to becoming a Nigerian sporting hero.