Ese Brume and Blessing Oborodudu have both won bronze and silver medals respectively at the 32nd Olympic Games ongoing in Tokyo. ENIOLA OYEMOLADE takes a look at the outstanding achievement of both athletes.
Few days after the sad news that 10 out of Nigeria’s 23 athletes would not compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics because they had not received the required number of drug tests in the months leading up to the games, Ese Brume and Blessing Oborodudu have put smiles on the faces of Nigerians, as they both clinched bronze and silver medals respectively.
Ese Brume with her best leap of 6.97m was on Tuesday, awarded the bronze medal behind World champion Malaika Mihambo who clinched the gold with her last jump of 7.00m.
Brume’s win gave Nigeria its first medal in athletics at the Olympic Games in 13 years.
United States’ Brittney Rees who also had a best jump of 6.97m picked the silver medal ahead of Brume with the countback rule.
The final on Tuesday had started on a bright note for Brume as she took the lead with her very first jump which was a distance of 6.97m.
However, she could not improve on that great start with her subsequent attempts.
Brume, who is the African record holder in the women’s Long Jump event, had qualified for the final stage on Sunday with a jump of 6.76, 1cm, more than the required mark.
The 25-year-old finished with the fourth overall best jump among the finalists but stepped up her game in Tuesday’s final game to win the bronze medal.
Brume was Nigeria’s sole representative in the jumps in Tokyo since the disqualification of Ruth Usoro by the Athletics Integrity Unit. Brume was also Nigeria’s only medalist at the last World Championship in Doha, where she also won a bronze.
After her win, Brume had said she intends to wear her bronze medal on the General Overseer of Living Faith Church Worldwide, Bishop David Oyedepo.
She said, “I plan to go to Canaan-Land to wear the bronze medal on Bishop David Oyedepo.
“I’m excited and grateful to God. I’m super happy that I was able to make the top three. I’ll say I’m not the best athlete but I’m grateful to God for bringing me this far. I can’t contain my joy no matter the colour of the medal.”
Brume dedicated her medal to “God Almighty, Who has been my backbone and brought me to the top. I also want to dedicate the medal to Bishop David Oyedepo, my family, as well as my coach and those that were here but could not compete.
“It has been a great season for me right from April when I was injured but I never settled for less no matter the challenges. I keep on pushing and my coach keeps telling me that Ese you can do it. It is not all about the training but the faith I have in God,” Brume said.
Born in Ughelli, Delta State, Brume first emerged at national level at the 2012 Nigerian Athletics Championships.
Brume was the long jump gold medalist at the 2013 African Junior Athletics Championships, 2014 Commonwealth Games, 2014 African Senior Athletics Championships and 2015 African Junior Athletics Championships. She also represented Nigeria at the World Junior Championships in Athletics in 2014.
Brume represented Nigeria at the 2016 Olympic Games where she placed fifth in the Long Jump final with a leap of 6.81m.
Brume won the bronze medal in the Long Jump event at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, with a jump of 6.91 m and at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, with a jump of 6.97 m.
She is a three-time African senior champion in the Long Jump and holds a personal best of 7.17 m.
On Tuesday also, Commonwealth champion, Blessing Oborududu, won a silver medal in the women’s 68kg freestyle wrestling event.
The 32-year-old lost to reigning world champion, Tamyra Mensah-Stock, of the United States 4-1 on points.
Oborodudu had recorded an impressive 7-2 victory over London 2012 Olympics bronze medalist, Battsetseg Soronzonbold, of Mongolia in the semi-final.
On her way to the final, in the round of 16, Oborududu thrashed Elis Manolova 13-2 via technical superiority, before securing a hard-fought 3-2 win against Meerim Zhumanazarova of Kyrgyzstan in the quarter-finals.
Before her win, former Olympic and Commonwealth freestyle wrestling champion, and current president of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation, Daniel Igali, was the only other Nigerian to have won an Olympic medal in wrestling before Oborududu’s feat. Igali had won gold for Canada in the Men’s 69kg freestyle at the 2000 Games in sydney.
After her victory, Oborodudu said, “Even when things were not going well for Team Nigeria in Tokyo with other athletes, I said to myself, I will make Nigeria proud.”
Blessing Oborududu was discovered during an inter-house sport at a high school and was first invited to a national camp in 2007.
Her parents were, however, initially against her ambition to become a sport wrestler and advised her that wrestling is allocated only for boys.
Oborodudu is currently ranked as the world number two woman. She is a 10-time African champion from 2010 to 2020.
According to Daniel Igali, the wrestling team is strong-minded more than ever to continue with their excellent performance.
Following both Oborodudu and Brume’s win, the Federal Government has rewarded them with $10,000 and $7500 respectively.
They were presented their cash by the Minister of Youth and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare.
The Federal Government had earlier announced a reward of $15,000, $10,000 and $7,500 dollars for gold, silver, and bronze medalists at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
Speaking at the ceremony, Dare said “There’s no point delaying the reinforcement of these athletes who have made the country proud, that is the reason they were rewarded immediately for their record breaking performance.”
Responding, Oborududu said, “I am just super excited and I want to say thank you to all my supporters and the Federal Government of Nigeria for the encouragement.”
Brume and Oborodudu have now joined Chioma Ajunwa, Blessing Okagbare and Glory Alozie, among others as Nigerians who have won individual medals at the Olympics.
YOU SHOULD NOT MISS THESE HEADLINES FROM NIGERIAN TRIBUNE
We Have Not Had Water Supply In Months ― Abeokuta Residents
In spite of the huge investment in the water sector by the government and international organisations, water scarcity has grown to become a perennial nightmare for residents of Abeokuta, the Ogun State capital. This report x-rays the lives and experiences of residents in getting clean, potable and affordable water amidst the surge of COVID-19 cases in the state…
Selfies, video calls and Chinese documentaries: The things you’ll meet onboard Lagos-Ibadan train
The Lagos-Ibadan railway was inaugurated recently for a full paid operation by the Nigerian Railway Corporation after about a year of free test-run. Our reporter joined the train to and fro Lagos from Ibadan and tells his experience in this report…
and then