Karim Olowu
Nigerian long jumper and sprinter (1924-2019)
Alhaji Karim Ayinla Babalola "KAB" Olowu (7 June 1924 – 14 August 2019) was a Nigerian sprinter and long jumper who was part of Nigeria's first delegation to the Olympic Games and the Commonwealth Games.
Olowu participated in the 1952 Summer Olympics and in the 1956 Summer Olympics. Two years prior to his appearance at the Olympics, he participated in the 1950 British Empire Games (now the Commonwealth Games) in Auckland, New Zealand. At the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games held in Canada, he won silver medals in long jump and the 4×110 yards relay, becoming the first Nigerian athlete to win two medals at the Commonwealth Games. At the 1992 Barcelona Olympics he became the first Nigerian Olympic torch bearer. He was one of Africa's oldest living Olympians.
Early life
Olowu was born in Lagos, Nigeria on 7 June 1924 to B. M. S. Olowu and R. A. Olowu (née Tinubu). He is the first grandson of Madam Tinubu and Saka Tinubu, part of a wealthy Yoruba family. He attended Saint Paul's Primary School, Breadfruit Lagos where in 1936 he began his sporting career represented his school in the Empire Day Athletics in commemoration of the British Empire Day, which was celebrated in Britain and its colonies before the independence in 1960. He later attended CMS Grammar School, Lagos where he was the sports prefect (Prefectus Ludorum).
“Karim Olowu” enters the record as nigerian long jumper and sprinter (1924-2019). Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Karim, Olowu and Nigerian can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Karim Olowu” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Karim, Olowu and Nigerian provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q18169220. None of the 1 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1924, 2019, 1952 and 1956.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Karim Olowu”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Karim Olowu primary sources, Karim Olowu archive and Karim research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Karim Olowu”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Karim Olowu” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.