- Onojuvwevwo and Onwuzuruike advance to the next round after an earlier repechage setback
- Usoro, Brume and Ochonogor set a record as they qualified for a final spot
- Ofilli and Ogazi can rescue Nigeria’s Olympic medal drought at the Paris 2024 event
Ella Onojuvwevwo and Udodi Onwuzuruike came first in their respective repechage rounds after failing to qualify from round 1 automatically yesterday, 5th August, in the women’s 400m and men’s 200m events, respectively. Ruth Usoro, Ese Brume, and Prestina Ochonogor took Nigeria into the women’s long jump category final. They became the first Nigerian women trio to ever qualify for an Olympics final event.
First-position wins for sprinters Onojuvwevwo and Onwuzuruike
Ella Onojuvwevwo made it to the semifinal of the women’s 400m event following a victory in Heat One of the repechage on Tuesday morning, 6th August, outpacing Poland’s Swiety-Ersetic (50.89s), Ireland’s Mawdsley (51.18s), the Czech Republic’s Petrzilkova (51.46s), Guyana’s Abram (51.84s), and India’s Pahal (52.59s).
She boasts an achievement of being a one-time African champion, 2-time world under-20 champion, and two-time African champion silver medalist at just 19 years of age.
The Nigerian athlete finished her race with an impressive record of 50.59s. She will represent Nigeria on Wednesday, 7th August, at 7:53 pm in the semifinal.
Udodi Onzwuzuruike also impressed many after coming from the 5th position in yesterday’s automatic rounds to win the men’s 200m repechage race this morning.
The 21-year-old sprinter dusted off the likes of Petteorossi from Italy (20.53s), Mumenthaler of Switzerland (20.67s), Lizuka of Japan (20.72s), and Macik from the Czech Republic (21.14s).
He will represent Nigeria tomorrow at 7:18 pm in the semifinal.
Usoro, Brume, and Ochonogor become record makers
For the first time, three Nigerian women have reached the final of the Women's Long Jump at the Olympics significantly boosting Nigeria’s chances of a medal. Despite finishing 9th, Ese Brume made an extraordinary leap of 6.76m, ensuring her an automatic entry into the final round. Usoro also qualified with a jump of 6.68m, while Ochonogor booked her place with an impressive leap of 6.65m. The final of the event will take place on Wednesday at 7 pm.
A look into Nigeria’s chances for a medal in remaining Olympic events
As it stands, Nigeria’s chances of getting medals at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games are very slim, and it keeps getting slim as the events go by. Nigeria has been eliminated from events like discuss, badminton, high jump, football, boxing, swimming and shotput.
However, a good number of athletes are still involved in sprint (both men's and women's events), basketball, hurdles, long jump, weightlifting and taekwondo. Many Nigerians keep their hopes high for a successful outcome in the remaining events.
Ofilli and Ogazi will represent Nigeria in the women’s 200m final and men’s 400m semifinal this evening at 8:40 pm and 6:49 pm, respectively.
Paris Olympics 2024: Favour Ofilli breaks 28-year jinx, Oborududu battles for bronze
Previously, TheRadar reported that earlier in the Olympics competition, Ofilli had made the headlines after missing out on her chance to represent Nigeria in the 100m event owing to the Nigerian Olympic Committee’s alleged failure to enter her for the competition.
The Nigerian sprinter cruised into the final of the 200m contest, becoming the first Nigerian athlete to do so in 28 years.
