The Ottawa Lions Track and Field Club is proud to celebrate one of its most accomplished members, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu, who has been announced as one of five inductees to the Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame Class of 2025. Canadian record holder and three-time Olympian, Bishop-Nriagu’s induction honours a career defined by excellence, perseverance, and an enduring connection to the communities that helped shape her.
“I’ve always been proud to represent Ontario—from wearing the red singlet at my very first Legion Nationals to competing at the Canada Games. Those moments helped pave the way for my journey to three Olympic Games,” Bishop-Nriagu said following the announcement. “It’s incredibly meaningful to be named to the Hall of Fame alongside so many great individuals, including my former teammate Shawnacy Barber. His legacy continues to inspire, and I’m honoured to be part of this class in his memory.”
Born in Eganville, Ontario, Bishop-Nriagu’s path to the world stage was sparked not on the track, but on the soccer pitch. It was there that a coach recognized her exceptional speed and made a bold prediction. “He saw me running up and down the field and said, ‘You’re going to be an Olympian one day,’” she recalled during an interview in 2017. “And I think that just planted the seed. I had no clue what it took to get there, but I was going. That was the dream.”
Joining the Ottawa Lions in the summer of 2002 at the age of 13, Bishop-Nriagu quickly found herself immersed in a community that nurtured her love of track and field. “Ottawa… it’s where I started my career. It’s where I really found the love for track and field. The Ottawa Lions built that up for me,” she said in 2017. “The club has always been home to me.”
After high school, Bishop-Nriagu competed for one year with the University of Ottawa Gee-Gees before transferring to the University of Windsor, where she would train under legendary coach Dennis Fairall and spend the remainder of her competitive career. Even as she built her life and family in Windsor, she continued to represent the Ottawa Lions with pride—a testament to the bond she maintained with the Lions.
Her competitive résumé ranks among the greatest in Canadian middle-distance history. She is a three-time Olympian (2012, 2016, 2020), highlighted by a fourth-place finish at the 2016 Games in Rio where she set a Canadian record of 1:57.02 in the 800 metres. She would go on to lower that record to 1:57.01 at the Monaco Diamond League in 2017—a mark that still stands. Earlier that same summer, she thrilled a partisan Ottawa crowd at the Canadian Championships, cruising to victory over 800 metres while hundreds of fans from Eganville cheered in matching “Melissa” t-shirts. It was one of four national senior titles she captured during a career that helped redefine Canadian middle-distance running.
In 2015, Bishop-Nriagu captured gold at the Pan American Games in Toronto and made history just weeks later by winning silver at the World Championships in Beijing—the first Canadian woman ever to medal in the 800 metres on the world stage. She also holds the Ottawa Lions club record in the 1500 metres, with a time of 4:04.42 set in 2021.
Her legacy has long been celebrated in Windsor, where she was inducted into the University of Windsor Alumni Sports Hall of Fame in 2018. This week, it was announced that she will also be part of the 2025 induction class for the Windsor/Essex County Sports Hall of Fame.
Through it all, Bishop-Nriagu remained deeply connected to the Ottawa Lions. When she returned to compete at a pair of Twilight Meets in the summer of 2020, her final races in the city, athletes of all ages—some who had only ever seen her on TV—seized every chance for a wave, a brief hello, or a socially distant selfie.
Reflecting on the Club’s role in her journey, Bishop-Nriagu offered a simple but powerful tribute today: “They developed me into the athlete I am and have always been my home club – representing them on world stages even with Canada across my jersey. So a big heartfelt thank you to the club for continued support from the very beginning to now!”
Details on the Athletics Ontario Hall of Fame induction ceremony are expected to be announced later this year, with the event anticipated to take place in the fall in Toronto. For the Ottawa Lions and the broader Canadian athletics community, Melissa Bishop-Nriagu is more than a champion—she’s a role model, a trailblazer, and now, a Hall of Famer.