Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye, Nigeria’s First Olympic Cyclist, Announces Retirement

Nigeria’s first Olympic cyclist, Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye, has officially retired from professional cycling. And she didn’t do it quietly.

“After many years of service, I am announcing my retirement from professional cycling,” she wrote, alongside a collage of sweat-soaked finishes, medals, and moments that now feel almost mythic. “I step away with a deep sense of pride and peace… It’s time to stop working like a lion and eating like an ant.”

Ese’s story didn’t begin in a velodrome. It began in Delta State, on regular local bicycles. In 2013, a friend noticed how often she rode around the village and nudged her toward competitive cycling. That small suggestion changed the direction of her life.

She lost both parents along the way. The weight of that never really leaves a person. But she has always spoken about her mother with a certain softness. In a 2023 interview, she said plainly, “If not for her, I might not be where I am today.” Her mother allowed her to leave home to chase a sport that, at the time, barely existed in the national consciousness.

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By 2018, she was in Asmara, Eritrea, competing at an African Cup event. She returned with gold and silver. That was the beginning of a pattern.

She won multiple gold medals at the African Track Cycling Championships. In 2023, she claimed gold in the road race at the African Road Championships, cementing her dominance on the continent.

And then there was 2022 at the National Sports Festival in Asaba. Eight gold medals at a single festival. It remains one of the most astonishing individual performances in the history of Nigerian sports festivals.

On the global stage, she competed at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships in both 2021 and 2023. Each appearance added to her growing reputation as Nigeria’s most serious cycling export.

Then came the 2024 Summer Olympics. Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye became the first Nigerian cyclist ever to compete at the Olympic Games. Not one event. Three. One road race and two track cycling competitions.

Her entry into the Keirin and Sprint came at extremely short notice after Egypt lost their slot. Nigeria hadn’t even packed track bikes. That’s how unprepared the system was for what she was about to do.

The German team stepped in and lent her a bicycle.

Imagine that. Your Olympic debut. On borrowed equipment. In a sport where marginal gains mean everything.

She raced anyway. In the Sprint qualifying, she posted a flying lap time of 11.652 seconds. 

After Paris, she signed with CANYON//SRAM Zondacrypto, stepping into the European peloton for a full season. 

At the Veenendaal–Veenendaal Classic, a notoriously tough Dutch semi-classic, she finished 14th. That result may not scream podium, but in European women’s cycling, breaking into that bracket as a Nigerian rider is significant. It announced her as more than a novelty story.

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“It’s time to stop working like a lion and eating like an ant.” That line hints at the financial and structural realities athletes like her often face. Years of sacrifice. Limited support. Global-level performance without global-level backing.

But she leaves as a pioneer. The first Nigerian cyclist to stand on the Olympic start line. The first to open that door. The one future riders will reference when they dare to dream bigger.

Ese Lovina Ukpeseraye didn’t just compete. She carved space.

From village bicycles in Delta State to the Olympic velodrome in Paris. From African gold medals to European racing circuits. From borrowed bikes to personal bests on the world’s biggest stage.

Now she’s stepping into a new chapter. And Nigerian cycling, whether it fully understands it yet or not, will forever carry her imprint.