Okagbare… Never Walk Alone

HE who fights and runs away lives to fight another day! Two years ago in Porto Novo, Benin Republic, Nigeria’s sprint queen, Blessing Okagbare, was in pensive mood after losing the African women 100m title to Murielle Ahoure of Cote d’Ivoire in the African Senior Athletics Championship.
   She wept all through the night and refused to be consoled. The story then was that Okagbare was recovering from malaria fever, but no one was ready to listen to the excuse of a loser. Some critics within the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) family even tagged her a failure.
   The Porto Novo championship was part of Nigeria’s build-up to the London 2012 Olympic Games.  In London, all eyes were on Okagbare to rescue the situation for Team Nigeria after all other athletes had failed.
   Expectations became so high back home when the athlete ran 10.92sec on her way to the final. But when it mattered most, Okagbare could not deliver. She finished last in the final with a poor 11.01sec time. Many sports loving Nigerians were forced to retire early to bed, labeling her as “unproductive.” For some, Warri girl don carry last was a simple but sufficient jibe.
   But like a child destined for greatness, Okagbare took a retreat to rebuild, even in the midst of criticisms by some self-styled athletics experts, including some ex-internationals who could not win any colour of medal for Nigeria in their active days.
  After the era of locust came a period of fruitful harvests, as the once taunted Okagbare soon became Africa’s most celebrated sprinter, striking gold medals at every competition as if there were no tomorrow.
  In July 2013, Okagbare returned to London, this time for the London Olympic Anniversary Games.  She smashed the African 100m women’s record, coming from behind to win in 10.79seconds. She also set a new African record in the process.
   A month later, Okagbare made history in Moscow, Russia, when she became Africa’s first ever-female sprinter to win a medal (silver) at the World Athletics Championships.
  Before Okagbare’s fate in Moscow 2013, the best record by a Nigerian or African female sprinter in the IAAF World Championship was the semifinal effort by Mary Onyali in Paris, France, in 2003, where she ran 11.12 sec in the 100m and 22.97 sec in the 200m. Other top African female sprinters like Endurance Ojokolo and Mercy Nku could not make much impact in the championship. That is not to take away the fame they brought to the country in their active days.
  Aimed with her record in Moscow, Okagbare started the 2014 season with a bang, recording a breathtaking performances at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, where she set another record, winning two gold medals—in 100 metres (in which she set a new Commonwealth record of 10.85) and 200m sprint.
  Again, the Urhobo-born athlete became the first Nigerian to win double sprint gold medals in the Commonwealth Games. Before then, the best record was by Onyali, who narrowly missed the sprint double at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. Onyali won the 100m and only lost the 200m to Cathy Freeman of Australia.
  Okagbare’s achievement in Glasgow became one of the most poignant memories of the Commonwealth Games, especially after dusting two Jamaican athletes, Veronica Campbell-Brown and Kerron Stewart, in the final. She has won the attention of the world, the admiration of Africans and the adulation of Nigerians.
  Few days after her Commonwealth conquest, Okagbare again proved that she is indisputably a giant shining star in the universe of athletics.
  At the African Senior Athletics Championship, which ended on Thursday in Marrakech, Morocco, Okagbare won two gold medals to take Team Nigeria to the top of the medals’ table, thus setting another record as the first Nigerian athlete to win four gold medals within a period of two weeks in different competitions. She set the ball rolling in Morocco by winning the women’s 100m gold, setting a new Championship record of 11 seconds flat to win the title she lost to Cote d’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahoure two years ago in Porto Novo, Benin Republic.
  Okagbare also anchored the female 4x100m relay team to gold in 43.56secs.
  At 25, with an Olympic bronze medal, which she won at age 19, and several other medals (7 golds, 5 silvers and 2 bronze), Okagbare holds Africa’s hope of conquering the world of athletics at Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
  She made her debut in jumping at the age of 16, winning a gold medal in long jump and a bronze in high jump as a Junior athlete for Delta State at the 2004 National Secondary Schools Games held in Owerri, Imo State.
  Later that year, she attended the 14th National Sports Festival in Abuja and picked a bronze in triple jump, which she originally began with. In 2006, she represented Nigeria at the World Junior Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, where she crashed out in the qualifying round.
  That low performance in China proved to be a brief one. In May 2007, the athlete announced her arrival on the national stage with a bang – at the All-Africa Games trials in Lagos. She won both long and triple jump at the trials, setting a new national record of 14.13 metres in the triple jump.
  Later that year, at the All-Africa Games in Algiers, she won the silver medal in the long jump (6.46m) and finished fourth (13.77m) in the triple jump.
  Okagbare was the first athlete to win two gold medals at the maiden West Africa Polytechnics Games, held at YABA Tech in Lagos in 2005. She was a student of Delta State Polytechnics, Otefe, Oghara, at that time. She later crossed to Delta State University, Abraka, where she was offered a scholarship by the Delta State government to study and continue her sporting career at the University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP), in the United States of America.
  On her way to world stardom, Okagbare has dominated the NCAA championships. In 2010, she won the US national Indoor titles in the 60 metres and long jump and grabbed top honours in the long jump, whilst also breaking the NCAA record twice.
  Three months later, she took the NCAA crowns during the outdoor season in the 100 metres and long jump. She created a record as the first in America’s collegiate history to go undefeated in all sprint and jump finals during a season.
  Okagbare ended the 2010 NCAA season, and her collegiate career, with four national titles, 11 All-America honours and 15 Conference USA championships.
  For these achievements, she was named the 2010 Conference USA Female Athlete of the Year, awarded the USTFCCCA Mountain Region Track Athlete and Mountain Region Field Athlete of the Year during the indoor season, and the Mountain Region Track Athlete of the Year for the outdoor season.
  The President of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), Solomon Ogba, described as ‘heart warming’ the fate achieved by Okagbare, in the just concluded African Athletics Championship in Morocco saying: “I am glad Blessing was been able to prove that she is truly the champion of Africa.”
  To the Sports Minister/Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Tammy Danagogo, the fate achieved by Okagbare and other athletes in recent times is a clear demonstration that Nigeria’s sport is steadily on the rise.
  Speaking with The Guardian during the week, Danagogo, who took over from Bolaji Abdullahi, said he is very impressed by the steady rise of the athletes and the country in global sports. He equally hailed President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan for the impressive achievements sport has recorded so far.
  According to Danagogo, the impressive results recorded so far by Nigeria in football and other sports is a clear evidence of the transformation currently going on in the sector.
  Danagogo’s first major assignment was in Gaborone, Botswana, where he led Team Nigeria to finish second in the African Youth Games, beating a resilient Egypt and others. Team Nigeria surpassed its achievement in the 1st edition of the tournament held in Morocco, where the country won seven gold medals, two silver and a bronze resulting in a total of 10 medals won. In Botswana, the young lads won over 26 medals, including a gold medal in the football event.
  Thereafter, he led the Super Eagles to Brazil, where team secured a round of 16 ticket, a fate the country last achieved at France ’98 World Cup.
  His third major assignment was the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games, where Team Nigeria finished as Africa’s second best with 11 gold, 11 silver and 14 bronze medals. It could have been 12 gold for Nigeria but teenage weightlifter, Chika Amalaha, got disqualified for violating anti-doping regulations.
  Just before the commencement of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Nigeria junior athletes took part in the IAAF World Junior Championship in Eugene, Oregon, USA, where Divine Oduduru grabbed a silver medal.
  Team Nigeria went to Marrakech, Morocco, saw and conquered. Despite strong opposition from South Africa and other countries, Nigeria was able to retain her position as Africa’s best athletics nation, capturing….
  “You will recall that our sports loving president held a Presidential Sports Retreat shortly after we came back from the London 2012 Olympics, where we did not win a medal, and the result of this retreat is what we are reaping the dividends now.
  “So I am using this opportunity on behalf of the NSC to show our appreciation to Mr. President for leading the way to success in Nigerian sports. The Transformation Agenda of Mr. President in sports has achieved great success so far.
  “I am equally happy with the performance of all our dynamic, talented and patriotic athletes who have represented our country so well in all the competitions. I am happy that we can now see clearly that our sport is steadily on the rise. The future is very bright,” Danagogo stated.