Blessing
Okagbare got Nigeria’s first medal at the IAAF World Championships in
Moscow on Sunday after leaping 6.99 metres in the women’s long jump to
finish second behind USA’s Brittney Reese (7.01), who became the first
woman to win three long jump titles at the world championships.
It was Nigeria’s first medal since 1999
when Gloria Alozie won silver in the women’s 100m hurdles and Francis
Obikwelu won bronze in the men’s 200m at Seville, Spain.
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.
“It’s actually harder than people think because this is a big stage. I was focussed on my jumps and didn’t get distracted.”
Reese, who won the event in 2009 and
2011, had managed to qualify for the final after a below-par performance
in Saturday’s qualifying round. She started with a 6.50m leap but
eventually recorded three foul jumps in her attempts.
It was the only seven-metre jump of the
competition and left Okagbare, who briefly led in the first round with
6.89 and later improved to 6.99, with silver.
Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic was third with a national record of 6.82m on her fifth attempt.
Okagbare will be on the tracks today for
the semi-finals of the women’s 100m. she qualified from the heat with
11.03 seconds, while Gloria Asunmu also advanced with her 11.27 seconds.
Nigeria’s Stephanie Kalu crashed out in the heat after running 11.67 to
finish fifth in her group.
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