Okagbare's silver ends Nigeria's 14-year wait for medal

According to the Guardian, NIGERIA'S golden girl, Blessing Okagbare battled long and hard to put her fatherland on the gold
medal honours list, but in the end she had to settle for the silver owing to the unyielding stance of U.S.A's Brittney Reese at the on-going IAAF World Championships holding at the Olympic Stadium, Moscow, Russia.


Okagbare's medal also ended Nigeria's 14-year wait to climb the podium in the championship that features such African countries as Kenya, Ethiopia, Botswana, Gabon, South Africa and even Tanzania regularly among the winners. And it was a delirious feeling among Nigerians at the stadium when the Green-White-Green was raised during the long jump medals' presentation.

The Sapele girl's medal even propelled Nigeria to the fifth position, momentarily, on the medals' table. Before the jumps started, some athletics followers had tipped Okagbare to end Reese's quest to win an unprecedented third gold medal in the women's Long Jump at the IAAF World Championships? Reese only just squeaked through to the final as her jump of 6.57m was good enough for 12th place - and even then on count back.


But she came back in a different way yesterday when she jumped 7.01 metres in her first jump, which was good enough to win her third successive world title. She didn't have it all her own way though, as Blessing Okagbare opened with 6.89m; significantly farther than Reese's opening 6.50m. Ivana Spanovic of Serbia had the second-best mark of the opening round with 6.70m. In round two, Reese flew out to 7.01m to take the lead.

Volha Sudareva of Belarus moved into the bronze medal position with 6.82m with Proctor (6.79m) and Darya Klishina (6.76m) close behind.

Next up for Okagbare is a battle with two-time Olympic gold medallist, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, for the 100 metres title. Okagbare, who beat Fraser-Pryce in their last clash before Moscow, looked almost too easy for it to be an 11.03 clocking, but it sent a gentle reminder to her opponents that there is plenty more in the bag.

Also in the final is Gloria Asunmu, whose performance here has given Nigeria's hope a good finish in the 4x100 metres race. Relishing her performance yesterday, Okagbare said, "I give glory to the almighty God, I thank him for everything.

I also thank him for using me because he could have used anybody, I thank him for using me. I also thank all members of my family, friends and relations for their support." On Monday's 100m final, Okagbare is optimistic, though she is shying away from predicting the eventual outcome of the race.