July - September 2017 •
The Lion King
• 19
Cover
Seye graduated from Atlantic Hall a
year later and moved to Ireland to
live with his older sister. He won the Irish
school championship in 2009. His first
summer running. He recorded 10.93
seconds in the 100 metre race. ‘I had
no training. Nothing. I was just eating
Irish potatoes’ he said with a wry smile
that I have now noticed is characteris-
tic of the charming young lad.
After this win, he joined a club as he
had come to realize he needed to
put a little bit of effort into his running.
‘I used to go from Dublin to Selbridge
to train in the winter. Sometimes the
bus wouldn’t come and I would just
be waiting. I was only 17 but some-
thing was pushing me to keep going.
I would tell my friends I had training
everyday. I didn’t know what I was
training for. I was just training’.
In 2010, Seye won the Irish champion-
ships again but this time in the 200m
race. ‘I ran 21.50 and the conditioner
called me afterwards to say that I had
qualified for the world juniors for 200m.
I said really? I wasn’t trying to qualify
for the 200m, only 100m’.
Seye didn’t dream about being an
athlete then but knew he was happi-
est doing sports and not in the class-
room. His future was about to unfold.
‘In 2007, we went for a competition
at Unilag. I remember I was in Lane
1 and I won the race from that lane.
After the race, Mrs Gloria Obajimi
who was the head of Sports in Lagos
state came up to me to say that I
was exceptional and could be a top
sprinter. I didn’t take it seriously. I just
said thank you Ma’.
Seye didn’t realize that he had just
ran and won the qualifiers for the
junior world championship that was
to take place in France. He was only
15 years old. ‘I went to France to run
for Nigeria. I didn’t think about the
impact. I was just happy that I went. I
was having fun.’
But his family and friends and the world
were about to notice. ‘Me going to
France changed everything. It led me
to the track path’ said Seye as though
he were relieving the moment as he
spoke.
government. I would follow my dad
to the national assembly sometimes.
I knew who the speaker was; I knew
who the senate president was; their
states; their villages.’ ‘I would watch
some of the Senate hearings and
began at a very young age to realize
that there was more to these politi-
cians than what we see from outside.
They always seemed under a lot of
pressure to deliver. They were always
saying they needed to put the laws in
place…’
Seye would later go on to study Politics
and Law at the University of Essex in
the UK. But before then, there were
still a lot of interesting milestones to
conquer.
He moved back to Lagos from Abuja
at the age of 11 and attended
Atlantic Hall school, once again as a
boarder. ‘I was at Atlantic Hall for six
years and at the school, it was sports
which made us all happy. I was always
happy kicking a ball. We used to
play football in the room. My happiest
memories are of playing basketball,
running with my friends down the road
trying to see who would get to the
post first.’
