Dr. Daniel Baraladei Igali, was born on February 3, 1974 in Enewari community in Southern Ijaw Local Government Areas of Bayelsa State. He is an accomplished wrestler and an astute sports administrator.
Igali fell in love with wrestling at a very tender age. At 17 he made the national wrestling team and by 1994, at age 20, he was part of the Victoria, Canada-bound Nigerian Commonwealth contingent.
He captained the Nigerian wrestling team to the 1994 Commonwealth Games. After the Games however, he opted to stay behind in Canada, citing the political unrest back home in Nigeria, arising from the June 12 imbroglio. Not wanting to be labelled as a defector, he did everything to legitimise his stay, and four years later, in 1998, he acquired Canadian citizenship. He was accepted by the Canadian public and was never discriminated against.
He acquired his first, and Masters degree in Criminology from the Simon Fraser University. He enjoyed funding from the institution and not surprisingly he won 116 consecutive matches, wrestling for the university between 1997 and 1999.
Even after he had successfully secured Canadian citizenship, the patriotic zeal in him prompted him to write to the coach of the Nigerian wrestling team at the time, that he was prepared to sponsor himself to Nigeria for the 1996 Olympic trials so he could represent the country at the Atlanta Olympics but did not get a reply from the wrestling authorities. The authorities of Simon Fraser were more than willing to sponsor Igali to represent Nigeria so, he wrote again to the wrestling coach and yet no reply. It was at that point he came to the painful realisation that he had no chance with Nigeria and since he was not getting any younger, he switched allegiance, especially as Canada was ready to give him the opportunity.
The 26-year-old Igali participated in the 2000 Sydney Olympics and won gold for his adopted country, Canada. When he won the gold medal, the Champ, as he is fondly called, said "I was overwhelmed with pride. I was just so thankful to this country that had given me so much, everything that I had wanted in life -- education, sports and the opportunity to compete". Igali went into the history books as the first Canadian to win gold at a global wrestling event and he became an instant hero.
Prior to the Olympics victory, Igali was at the 1999 World Championship where he won gold. Igali was at the 2002 Commonwealth Games held in Manchester, winning gold in 74kg weight class. Having achieved so much for Canada, he was inducted into the country's Sports Hall of Fame in 2007 and in 2012 he was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame.
Igali, a two-time member of the Bayelsa State House of Assembly, was appointed Special Envoy on Sports and Education by former governor, Timipre Sylva. He is currently the Bayelsa State Commissioner for Youth Development. In furtherance of his desire to give back to society, especially to wrestling, which brought him fame, Igali contested to become President of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation (NWF) in 2020 and he succeeded. He had earlier been the Technical adviser to the national wrestling team. He is also on the Technical Commission of the Universal World Wrestling, the body responsible for writing the rules of the sport.
In spite of being president of the NWF, Igali still involves himself with the coaching of the athletes without usurping the duties of the coach, as they complement each other. In an interview, he explained that he is passionate about giving back to wrestling because the sport gave him everything -- education, direction and life -- so the least he could do was to give back to the sport that got him to where, and what, he is today.
The wrestler, who noted that he may not have risen to become Olympic and World champion if he had remained in Nigeria, said those things available to athletes over there are some of the things he is trying to correct in Nigeria by ensuring athletes are given the right renumeration, training and motivation, so they too can excel as he did.
In Nigeria, he started the wrestling revolution through his effort to replicate the kind of support and motivation athletes enjoy abroad. He is also credited with initiating the "adopt an athlete" programme, where people who can afford it, are encouraged to pick two athletes and support their training programmes.
Today, February 3, Igali celebrates his 51st birthday and expectedly, messages of congratulations have been pouring in but the birthday is not the only thing he is celebrating. Over the weekend in Port Harcourt, Dr Daniel Baraladei Igali fittingly emerged as chairman of the Niger Delta Sports Commissioners Forum.
The sports commissioners were in Port Harcourt to meet with the leadership of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC) to discuss modalities for organizing the forthcoming Niger Delta Sports Festival.
So, it is double garlands for an accomplished wrestler, an astute sports administrator, a silent achiever and Chairman, Niger Delta Sports Commissioners Forum.
