- Nathaniel sails into the men’s 400m hurdles semi-final
- Oborududu beats former world champion, Linda Morais in style
- Chidi Okezie misses out on semifinal spot
Nigeria’s hurdler, Ezekiel Nathaniel, breaks a 12-year-old record to emerge the third Nigerian in a 400m hurdles semi-final. Oborududu, who represented Nigeria in the wrestling event beats Canada’s Morais for the second time since their last meeting in 2022. Although Chidi Okezie was unable to progress to the semifinals even after the repechage round on Monday morning, Nigeria still has Samuel Ogazi who qualified automatically from round one.
Nathaniel advances into the 400m hurdles semifinal
Nathaniel’s remarkable performance at the Paris 2024 Olympics has made him the third Nigerian to reach the semifinals of the 400m Hurdles, marking a significant achievement.
The 21-year-old qualified for the semifinals on Monday by placing second in heat 4 with a time of 48.32 seconds, earning an automatic spot.
The National Record holder managed to clear all hurdles and placed second in heat 4 with a time of 48.32 seconds. He finished behind Jamaica’s Roshawn Clarke, who won with 48.17 seconds, and Wilfried Happio took the final automatic spot with a time of 48.42 seconds.
He becomes the first Nigerian to reach the semifinals in this event in over a decade, following Amaechi Morton in 2012 and Henry Amike in 1984.
Oborududu beats former world champion again
Nigeria’s Blessing Oborodudu has advanced to the semifinals of the women’s wrestling (68kg) division at the Paris 2024 Olympics. The intimidating-looking Nigerian wrestler came to the limelight after claiming a silver medal at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics event.
At the 2022 Commonwealth Games, Blessing Oborududu also claimed Nigeria's 7th Gold medal beating Canada’s Linda Morais, and yet again the Nigerian wrestler does what she does best by beating the former world champion, Morais, again in their quarterfinal clash on Monday afternoon to secure the semifinal round. Oborududu won the match in a comfortable 8-2 win. This is certainly an impressive performance by the wrestler.
Okezie fails to qualify through the repechage round
Okezie was unable to make the most of his second chance in the Repechage Round, which provides an opportunity to qualify for the semifinals following an initial elimination. He ended up 5th in the second heat of this round with a time of 45.92 seconds, failing to advance.
Chidi Okezie will now focus on the Nigerian men’s 4x400m relay team’s Olympic performance.
Paris Olympics 2024: Cameronian-born Ngamba set to become first Olympic refugee medalist
Previously, TheRadar reported that British boxer, Cindy Ngamba, was on course to secure an Olympic medal and could make history as the first member of the IOC’s refugee team to win one. Settling in England has also not been rosy for Ngamba, while Great Britain’s boxing association has supported her citizenship request to the Home Office a number of times, it has, however, been with no success.
