Since arriving on the Drake campus two years ago, Yinka Mary Ajayi has already substantially impacted the Drake University track & field program and its record books. In addition to winning three Missouri Valley Conference titles in 15 months, she is also the fastest Bulldog in the 400 meters in nearly 40 years.
 
However, this July, she added arguably the highest honor of any track & field athlete's career – Olympian.
 
Ajayi, a native of Nigeria, is currently in Tokyo representing Nigeria in the pool of athletes that will race for Nigeria in the first-ever mixed 4x400-meter relay at the Tokyo Olympic Stadium. She is just the fifth Drake track & field athlete to ever compete in the Olympics, the first since 1960, first female and first active member of the program to do so.
 
"It is a great honor, and I'm super excited and happy that I'm able to represent my country at the Olympic Games," Ajayi said.
 
She will potentially compete July 30 at 6 a.m. CDT in the preliminary heats of the event, followed by the finals July 31 at 7:35 a.m. CDT. While the Olympic oval is the biggest stage she will have competed on, Ajayi is no stranger to international competition and representing the African nation of more than 200 million citizens. She has previously represented her home country in the African Championships and World Relay Championships.
 
The journey to Tokyo has been trying with Ajayi crisscrossing the globe for the last two months to earn the opportunity. However, her Olympic dream was present long before the qualification process started.
 
"This has always been my dream," Ajayi said. "Whenever I'm training, I'm thinking 'I'm training for the Olympics.' It's something I say every day and I keep training like an Olympian. It is something that I wake up and dream about every day with the support of my school."
 
For Ajayi, that dream started to materialize into reality this past spring when her outdoor season began to take form following an indoor season that she considered disappointing despite defending her MVC title in the 400 meters.
 
"It all started during our conference championship," Ajayi said of when she knew she had Olympic potential. "I believed in the training process and I felt that during the conference championship. Then, after the 4x100 race, 55 minutes later, I ran the 400 and won it."
 
After another hour's rest, Ajayi anchored the Bulldogs' 4x400-meter relay to a third-place finish with a 52-second split.
 
"I was like 'oh wow, Yinka is ready to go,'" Ajayi remarked after strong performances in three events in a three-hour window. "I just told my coach I was going for the trials and knew I was capable of doing it. I'm a fighter. I'm a competitor and had this belief in me that I can do it."
 
Whenever doubts started to elbow their way into the ribs of Ajayi's Olympic dream, the support from her teammates, coaches and training at Drake strengthened her resolve.
 
"They are awesome and they surprised me," Ajayi said. "One of my teammates told me, 'Yinka, I know you're going to make this team because you always told me to have a lion's heart when I'm training and running, and you always have a lion's heart and shouldn't be afraid of anything.' That lingers in my heart because I encourage my teammates so much to keep pushing and believing in their training."
 
Ajayi hopes to repay the faith her Drake teammates have shown in her by representing Drake on the international stage.
 
"The support Drake has for athletes, all athletes, is appreciated and I want to make them proud," Ajayi said. "I really want to make them proud. The support has helped me prepare for this and believing in the process of the training."
 
However, Ajayi now has a new team and new but familiar teammates as she swaps out her Drake blue for the vibrant green of Nigeria for the next two weeks.
 
"I'm excited to be on the team and we've been on the national team together before," Ajayi said. "Coming together again and being on this team, I'm excited because everything feels the same. You know you're among the team and relays teams are always special. We have to work together. It's not individual. We're always together as a team."
 
That teamwork is even more necessary in the mixed 4x400-meter relay in which each relay team has two male and two female members. Teams have the freedom to run their lineup in any order and coaches face an extensive array of tactical decisions. They must arrange their runners to best capitalize upon advantages on a race with the potential for wild lead swings and shifts in momentum.
 
"This is a special one because it is a mixed relay," Ajayi said. "The arrangement [of runners] can be funny and there are advantages and disadvantages to each arrangement. It's very technical and the coaches have to look for who's strongest and the coaches know how to arrange it."
 
Ajayi has faith in the Nigerian staff to put the strongest team possible on the oval and she looks forward to handing off the baton, something that she describes as one of her favorite things to do on the track.
 
"I love doing that [relay exchanges]. I love relays and I have this special love for relays," Ajayi said. "I'm ready to run and perform really well. I feel most excited when I'm running relays."
 
Those exchanges are even more significant in the mixed relay where Ajayi may be receiving or handing the baton from a woman moving at the same speed or from a male runner who will usually be running at a much faster pace. So the next week in Tokyo will be critical for her and her teammates in developing the timing and chemistry to successfully navigate four laps and three exchanges on the Olympic Oval.
 
"We all train together and my performance has improved in my training because I am training with my relay team," Ajayi said. "Everything is working together."
 
That togetherness is more important now than perhaps in any previous Olympics. The athletes must now navigate the challenges and limitations of competing in a global pandemic and its restrictions on the Olympians.
 
Ajayi is currently in Tokyo training with her teammates and will move into the Olympic Village next week. She and her teammates have been self-isolating in their lodgings, leaving only to train, receive meals and briefly meet in their hotel. The team even has a dedicated private elevator to restrict outside contact, and according to Ajayi, the Nigerian athletes have been taking every possible precaution.
 
The most noticeable difference in the Olympic experience will probably come when the team steps onto the Olympic track surrounded by empty stands and near silence. It will certainly not be the Olympic experience Ajayi or any Olympian envisioned.
 
"It's a different dream entirely, but I don't allow it to weigh me down because to be an Olympian is not easy and I'm so grateful for this opportunity to be an Olympian," Ajayi said.
 
One part of Ajayi's Olympic dream that hasn't changed is the opportunity to represent the university that she moved halfway across the world to attend on the international stage.
 
"I'm really proud of my school and that I can take that flag anywhere and to represent Drake at the Olympics is very big for me," Ajayi said. "I appreciate their support and the way they support their athletes. It is a motivation for me as a student-athlete. At Drake, they're there to listen and care for you. I'm really proud of that and proud to represent Drake University."