Olympic Medalists: Chelsea celebrate Mikel Obi, one other Nigerian hero

Of the numerous Olympic medal winners that have played for the Blues, two have been Nigerians, and the London side recognised their achievement on the eve of the Tokyo Games

UEFA Champions League winners Chelsea have taken time to celebrate the Nigerian duo of John Mikel Obi and Celestine Babayaro, among past club stalwarts who are Olympics medal winners.

Babayaro became the first African player to sign for the Stamford Bridge winners when he joined from Belgian side Anderlecht as a teenager in 1997.

But the 1993 U-17 FIFA World Cup winner arrived in London as an Olympic gold medalist after helping Nigeria triumph at the football event of Atlanta ’96.

After Nwankwo Kanu and Victor Ikpeba inspired a spectacular comeback win over Brazil in the semi-final for the Dream Team, Babayaro scored in the 3-2 defeat of Argentina in the final.

At the twilight of his remarkable Chelsea career, Mikel Obi nearly repeated the feat at Rio 2016, but the Nigerian team he skippered lost to Germany in the semi-final of the football event.

But an excellent 2-0 win over Honduras in the third-place match ensured the Nigerians left Brazil with a bronze medal hanging around their necks.

And ahead of the start of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics games, Chelsea have visited memory lane to celebrate the two former Super Eagles stars on their official website.