Nigeria hasn’t won any medal in the last 13 years, not until Brume won her first medal at Tokyo Olympic.
This makes it Nigeria’s first medal in athletics at the Olympic Games in 13 years.
This season’s Olympic games have been of mixed expression for Nigeria’s team with lots of uneventful events. Team Nigeria’s delay for a medal at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics came to a halt on Tuesday. Finally, Ese Brume won the Bronze in the Women’s Long Jump event.
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Brume won the Bronze with her best leap of 6.97m. World champion Malaika Mihambo got the gold with her very last jump of 7.00m. United States’ Brittney Rees had a best jump of 6.97m, the same score as Brume, but won the silver medal with countback rule.
Nigeria records her first medal in athletics at the Olympic Games in 13 long years. It was a joyful experience as everyone was hoping for at least one award.
At first, Bume had a great start as she led with her first jump, which was a distance of 6.97m. But she could not improve on that bright start with her subsequent attempts.
On Sunday, Brume had qualified for the final stage with a jump of 6.76m, 1cm more than the required mark. Among the finalists, she finished the fourth overall best jump. Her dedication and perseverance can be seen by stepping up her game to get a Bronze.
After the disqualification of Ruth Usoro, the Athletics Integrity Unit, Bume is the only one representing Team Nigeria. In addition, Brume was Nigeria’s only medalist at the last World Championship in Doha, where she also won a bronze.
Bume broke the long-standing 7.12m record of Chioma Ajunwa in the build-up to the Olympic Games. So, eyes were on her. It was expected there that she could also deliver gold just like the Anjuwa, the policewoman, did 25 years ago in Atlanta, but that did not happen. That aside, Blessing Okagbare also won a silver medal in the Olympic Long Jump event at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
With Brume’s Bronze, Nigeria can boast of winning all three categories of medals in the Women’s Long Jump event.
On Sunday, Brume had qualified for the final stage with a jump of 6.76m, 1cm more than the required mark.
She finished with the fourth-best jump among the finalists but stepped up her game in Tuesday’s final to win Nigeria’s first medal.
Reese, the 2012 gold medallist and four-time world champion, led the third round with a leap of 6.97m. But Brume, who had placed fifth at the Rio Games in 2016 with 6.81, had to settle for Bronze because her second-best effort of 6.67m was inferior to Reese’s 6.81m. Germany’s Malaika Mihambo won the event’s gold medal, having saved her best for the last, by snatching victory from Reese with a season-best jump of 7.00m.
However, Mihambo’s final leap sealed the deal for her. Bume had no choice but to take home silver.
Mihambo is a rival of Reese, as they always see at lugger’s head with one another.
Of the seven women who went into the finals, with a personal best of seven metres, Mihambo was the only one to reach the mark.
