“I Fulfilled the American Dream”: Eyeing the Upcoming Paris Olympics, Keturah Orji Speaks Her Mind on Being an Immigrant

“Georgia is really the foundation of where I became who I am today…I mean, that’s where I broke the American record.” says two-time Olympian Keturah Orji. Track and field sensation Keturah has never failed to entertain spectators with her enthralling performances over the years. However, this is not the only reason for her immense popularity.

Instead, Keturah is famous for being an inspiration on and off the tracks. While inspiring fellow athletes, Keturah is bolstering her preparations for Paris in just a few days. Amidst preparations, she is already making waves for a recent interview session, wherein in this tête-à-tête, she divulged some tidbits about being an immigrant.

Keturah’s journey to excellence decoded with tidbits and heritage anecdotes

A glimpse of an interview session between Keturah Orji and 11Alive is getting viral all across the internet. The video clip featured Keturah Orji sitting with the team of 11Alive to share insights ahead of the 2024 Paris Olympics and delved on topics ranging from her retirement to her grand gold medal vision ahead, etc so on and so forth. 

Hailing from Atlanta, Keturah Orji is an American Olympic track and field athlete who is no stranger to success, with an astonishing record of 10 US National Championship titles already under her belt. However, Keturah’s journey to success was not as easy as it may seem to be. In the same interview, she said, “especially knowing that I come from an immigrant family, my dad is originally from Nigeria. That’s just a hard part of the population.” Immigrant stories and rise to fame is always a tough graph to plot, but Orji vanquished all odds and now has Paris in her peripheral vision.

Being born to Nigerian parents, Keturah faced many obstacles along the way, from being a collegiate athlete to a professional athlete. She added, “I come from an immigrant family; my dad is originally from Nigeria. And so I feel like I fulfilled the American dream, him being able to come over by himself and meet my mom, get married, and have kids. And then his child ended up making the Olympic team, not once, not twice, but hopefully a third time.” Despite facing all the challenges, Keturah emerged as a dominant force, etching her name in the annals of track and field. However, her success is still incomplete. 

2024 Paris Olympics vision: Keturah Orji comes back with a flourish

Even though Keturah has been an Olympian two times (2016 and 2021) with a rock solid American record, she never made it to the podium. Now, she is vying for the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics Games scheduled this year with a strong belief in making history. In addition to this, she is aiming to become the first American Woman to win a gold medal in the high jump event before concluding her career. 

Read More: Didn’t Change”: Noah Lyles Spills Verdict on 60M Race Against Rival Christian Coleman

Interestingly, Keturah’s spectators will be eagerly anticipating the upcoming 2024 Paris Olympics with all hopes on her. Meanwhile, Keturah is seeking a podium finish, “Retire on a high note…Podium is always the goal. It’s very difficult.“ Now, the question is, will Keturah be able to win a medal this year?

 Also Read: 7 Months After No Update From AIU, 19-Year-Old Track Champion’s Hope Once Again Gets Crushed