Ene Franca Idoko

Ene Franca Idoko

Ene Francisca “Franca” Idoko-Isaac(born 15 June 1985, inBenue State) is a Nigerian sprinter who specializes in the100 metres.Her personal best time over 100 m is 11.14 seconds, achieved in July 2008 inAbuja.Her personal best time over 60 m is 7.09 seconds, achieved in February 2008 inChemnitz.Thus, Ene was known as Olympic Games Silver medallist, African Championships Silver medallist and Olympic Games finalist.

Married life

Ene France Idoko married Uche Isaac, who is also a Nigerian sprinter. She then changed her name to Franca Idoko-Isaac.She left sports, which has been part of her for ten years, when she became pregnant. Idoko-Isaac had a baby boy named Chris Uche Isaac and stayed away from sports for two years to nurse her baby.

Career in sports

Ene won the bronze medal with the African4 x 100 metres relayteam at the2006 IAAF World Cup.In60 metresshe finished seventh at the2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships.At the2008 African Championshipsshe finished fourth in the 100 metres. At the2008 Summer OlympicsinBeijingshe competed at the100 metressprint. In her first round heat she placed fourth, normally causing elimination, but her time of 11.61 seconds was among the ten fastest losing times, which gave her a spot in the second round. There she failed to qualify for the semi-finals as her time of 11.66 was only the seventh time of her heat.

Together withGloria Kemasuode,Agnes OsazuwaandOludamola Osayomishe also took part in the4x100 metres relay.In their first round heat they placed fourth behindBelgium,Great BritainandBrazil.Their time of 43.43 seconds was the best non-directly qualifying time and the sixth time overall out of sixteen participating nations. With this result they qualified for the final in which they replaced Osazuwa withHalimat Ismaila.They sprinted to a time of 43.04 seconds, a third place and a bronze medal behindRussiaand Belgium.In 2016, the Russian team was disqualified and stripped of their gold medal due to doping violations by one of the Russian runners,Yuliya Chermoshanskaya,thereby promoting Nigeria to the silver medal position.Ene Franca Idoko said “It is a great feeling, having a bronze medal before and now silver.She is also excited to be addressed as an Olympics silver medalist.

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
RepresentingNigeria
2006	African Championships	Bambous, Mauritius	2nd	4 × 100 m relay	44.52
2007	All-Africa Games	Algiers, Algeria	4th	100 m	11.46
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	43.85
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	11th (h)	4 × 100 m relay	43.58
2008	World Indoor Championships	Valencia, Spain	7th	60 m	7.30
	African Championships	Addis Ababa, Ethiopia	4th	100 m	11.47
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	35th (qf)	100 m	11.66
			2nd	4 × 100 m relay	43.04

External links

• Article on return to competitionby Athletics Africa
• Ene Franca IdokoatWorld Athletics