Abiola Ogunbanwo

Abiola Ogunbanwo
Personal information
Full nameHabibat Abiola Moyosore Ogunbanwo
Born (2004-04-19) 19 April 2004
Lagos, Nigeria
Sport
SportSwimming

Habibat Abiola Moyosore Ogunbanwo (born 19 April 2004 in Lagos, Nigeria)[1][2][3] is a Nigerian swimmer. In 2019, she represented Nigeria at the 2019 World Aquatics Championships held in Gwangju, South Korea.[4] She competed in the women's 100 metre freestyle and women's 200 metre freestyle events.[5][6] In both events she did not advance to compete in the semi-finals.[5][6]

In 2018, she competed in two events at the 2018 FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) held in Hangzhou, China. In 2021, she competed in the women's 100 metre freestyle event at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan.[7]

She broke the longstanding Nigerian record of 1:00.50 when she finished the 100 meters swimming with 59.74 seconds in the 2020 Summer Olympics.[8][9][10][11]

Early life

Ogunbanwo was born in Nigeria and moved with her parents to Australia around 2008.[3] She lived in Canberra, attended St Clare’s College, and trained at the Woden Valley Swim Club.[12] In 2021 she moved to Kazan, Russia, to train at the FINA Development Centre[13] for the (postponed) 2020 Olympics. In 2024 she was a student at the University of Canberra.[14]

Other work

Outside of her athletic career, she is a creative writer and was featured as a contributing poet in the 2025 Muslim-Australian anthology, Ritual.[15]

She also serves as a youth co-researcher for the African Diaspora Youth Belonging project, focusing on exploring the cultural experiences and identities of African youth living in Australia.[16]She has contributed to academia and media through this research. She co-authored a 2024 article in the student voice journal ReConnectEd examining the misrepresentation of African cultures in Australian schools. In December 2025, she featured as a commentator on the BBC World Service podcast What in the World, discussing the impacts of Australia's under-16 social media ban. She also co-authored an article for The Conversation detailing how the ban could disproportionately isolate and harm African diaspora youth.[17][18][19]

References

  1. ↑ "Entry list - 2019 World Aquatics Championships" (PDF). omegatiming.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  2. ↑ "Abiola Ogunbanwo - Player Profile - Swimming". Eurosport.com. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  3. 1 2 "Youth Co-Researchers". African Diaspora Youth Belonging in Australia. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  4. ↑ "Australia-based Abiola Ogunbanwo shines at Tokyo Olympics". The Punch. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  5. 1 2 "Women's 100 metre freestyle – Heats – 2019 World Aquatics Championships" (PDF). omegatiming.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 26 July 2020.
  6. 1 2 "Women's 200 metre freestyle – Heats – 2019 World Aquatics Championships" (PDF). omegatiming.com. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 July 2020. Retrieved 28 July 2020.
  7. ↑ "Women's 100 metre freestyle – Heats" (PDF). Tokyo 2020 Olympics. Tokyo Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 July 2021. Retrieved 2 August 2021.
  8. ↑ "Tokyo Olympics: Ogunbanwo becomes first Nigerian woman to finish 100m freestyle under a minute". TheCable. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  9. ↑ "Tokyo Olympics: 17-year-old Ogunbanwo smashes 14-year-old swimming record". The Guardian. Lagos, Nigeria. 28 July 2021. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  10. ↑ "Tokyo Olympics: 17-year old Ogunbanwon sets national swimming record". Premium Times. 28 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  11. ↑ "Ogunbanwo breaks 14-year-old swimming record". The Sun. Lagos, Nigeria. 29 July 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  12. ↑ Ritchie, Rosa (17 January 2021). "Canberra swimmer Habibat Ogunbanwo races to Russia on the road to Tokyo 2021". Canberra Daily. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  13. ↑ "Habibat Ogunbanwo – the first girl, who has joined our team after pandemic!". fina-development.com. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  14. ↑ "Theory Workshops". AARE. Retrieved 7 November 2024.
  15. ↑ Ritual. Fairfield, New South Wales: Sweatshop Literacy Movement Inc. 2025. pp. 91–92. ISBN 9780645717921.
  16. ↑ "African Diaspora Youth Belonging in Australia". African Diaspora Youth Belonging in Australia.
  17. ↑ Moran, Claire; Baak, Melanie (25 November 2025). "'The main thing you've got is TikTok': how the social media ban could harm African diaspora youth". The Conversation.
  18. ↑ https://www.bbc.com/audio/play/w3ct73pz. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  19. ↑ Ogunbanwo, Habibat; Hamed, Shaza; Luwala, Efon; Munyonge, Jeanne (25 June 2024). "'Not one day did I ever learn anything about African heritage or cultures': The Mis/Non-Representation of African Cultures in Australian Schools". pp. 17–24.


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