If Raykiyat Olukoju is not on the track, dusting the competition, you can probably find her talking about track with her former Olympian parents.
On May 19, junior sprinter Raykiyat Olukoju was honored as the University of California, Riverside (UCR) Student-Athlete of the Week. Although it is not her first time receiving this, Olukoju shared, “it is an honor to know that my hard work is being recognized. I hope that I can continue to keep working hard to hopefully put UCR on the map for track and field.”
During the Big West Championship, Olukoju was the anchor for the women’s 4×400-meter relay. “The conditions weren’t the best, and going into my leg, we were in fifth place, so it wasn’t looking too hot. [There was a squabble amidst] in lanes 1 and 2 where everyone’s trying to put their team in the best position. Sometimes you have to just go around it, which is exactly what I did, [and I got up to second place] on the back stretch.”
Olukoju stays motivated by reminding herself that she has not reached her goal of becoming an Olympian yet. In regards to her journey in becoming an Olympian, Olukoju shared, “it is going to be a very long process that is not going to be a constant diagonal that goes up all the time. You can’t get to an end point without falling in love with the journey, regardless of whether you liked the journey or not.”
Olukoju’s biggest inspiration and role models have been her parents. Both of them have made it to where she wants to be, the Olympics. Her father competed in the 1988 Olympics in throws (shotput and discus) while her mother competed in the 1996 Olympics as a sprinter. Her mother is currently an assistant coach at UCR.
To perform her best, Olukoju reminds herself of what she needs to do every time she steps into the blocks: “Whether it’s getting out of the blocks in a certain way or being more aggressive or replaying continuously in my head, how I would run my ideal race to run the time that I have to run in advance…Even in the moment of competition after the starter guy says ‘on your marks,’ I’m muttering words of what I have to do, just so when the gun goes off, my mind doesn’t go blank.”
This season, Olukoju’s personal goal is to run the 200-meters in 22 seconds. She is close to achieving this goal, with her personal record in this event being a 23.06. Olukoju shared that she has evolved as a person and athlete in numerous ways since coming to UCR, but the most prevalent way has been recognizing the value of being a part of a team. Before UCR, “I ran unattached, so basically all of my practices, all of my warm-ups, getting ready for competitions, I was all on my own. I never knew how difficult it was to be by yourself until I came to UCR and I became a part of a team.”
Olukoju hopes to finish the rest of the season healthy and to put herself “in a position to prosper for next year, whether that’s shaving my time down, polishing mechanics or making sure I’m eating right.” In terms of the team, Olukoju hopes more athletes from UCR make it to NCAA regionals next season.
Olukoju has consecutively medaled in the 200-meter event at the Big West Championships for the past three years and greatly attributes this to her coaches having faith in her. “Sometimes every so often I end up questioning myself, having imposter syndrome…but, when this happens, being able to have coaches and teammates be there for you and say ‘hey it might not be happening right now, but that doesn’t mean you should lose faith in the future.’ That really helps.”
As a woman in sports, Olukoju expressed how she deals with various challenges. “Our bodies are just different. We’ve got hormone imbalances and menstrual cycles. [There are] days [when] we don’t want to do anything and days [when] we feel like a million bucks. So I would just say being [a female athlete] teaches resiliency…even if you feel like there’s a bunch of nails being hammered into you 24/7, you still have to get up and train, and give it your all regardless.”
It is not only preparation for the sport, but also life. “Because life is going to be like this. There’s going to be days where you don’t want to do anything…but being able to have that tenacity and grit to still be able to get the job done, knowing you’re disciplined and able to give the max percentage that you can each day, I would say that’s what it is to be a woman in sports.”
Going into her senior year and beyond, Olukoju wants to be involved in track one way or another. “I might not be on the track, but I am still going to be [involved with] track … basically following in my mom’s footsteps. I want to be just like her.”
