Daniel Igali
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| Olympic medalist | |||
 Daniel Igali |
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| Medal record | |||
| Men's wrestling | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2000 Sydney | Freestyle lightweight (69 kg) | |
Daniel Igali (born February 3, 1974 in Eniwari, Nigeria) is a Canadian freestyle wrestler. As captain of the Nigerian team he came to Canada to compete in the 1994 Commonwealth Games. He stayed in Canada while seeking refuge status due to political unrest in Nigeria. He acquired citizenship in 1998.
He earned a master's degree in criminology from Simon Fraser University after attending Douglas College. He won a gold medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in the 69 kg category by defeating Arsen Gitinov and won a gold medal at the 1999 world championships in Ankara, Turkey in the same category. He finished in the semi-finals in the 2004 Summer Olympics for the 74 kg category. He still trains at SFU and likes to help coach.
On February 10, 2005, Igali announced that he would seek nomination as a candidate in Surrey-Newton for the British Columbia Liberal Party in the 2005 provincial election in British Columbia. He won the nomination, but was defeated by New Democrat opponent Harry Bains in the election.
The election was marred by controversy in the final weekend, with conflicting allegations about the source of pamphlets encouraging people to vote "pretty brown" (Bains is Indo-Canadian) instead of "ugly black".
In November of 2006 Igali was injured during a violent robbery while in Nigeria.[1]
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Categories: Canadian sportspeople stubs | 1974 births | Living people | Canadian sport wrestlers | Olympic wrestlers of Canada | Canadian athletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics | Canadian athletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics | Olympic gold medalists for Canada | Black Canadians | British Columbia sportspeople | People of Nigerian descent | Simon Fraser University alumni
