OUR LEGEND OF THE WEEK #6

We grew up to hear people say: “What a man can do, a woman can do it better”. Surprisingly, a young lady has modified this to: “What a man cannot do, a woman can do it excellently”. She is Nigeria’s latest personage. Who is she?

The last time Nigeria won a medal in the world championship was in the year 1999. On August 11, this 25 year old Nigerian-born athlete, Blessing Okagbare, made the headlines of all National Dailies when she ended the country’s 14-Year wait for Medal at the 2013 IAAF World Championships in Moscow, Russia. It was a tremendous moment for the nation; she is indeed a champion!

            Okagbare was born in Sapele, Delta State where she faced so many challenges in life. She did not give up. Instead, she turned her challenges into great successes through hardwork and determination. Blessing is a long and triple jumper and short sprinter; she is an Olympic and World medalist in the long jump, World medalist in the 200m, and the African record holder in the 100m. She says she started jumping in 2004. “I actually was not a long jumper back then, I was a triple jumper. I won a gold medal in long jump and bronze medal in high jump as a Junior athlete for Delta State at the 2004 National Secondary Schools Games in Owerri, Imo State and later that year I attended the 14th National Sports Festival held in Abuja and won a bronze doing the triple jump.” This marked a turning point for Okagbare as she went on to represent Nigeria at the 2006 World Junior Athletics Championships in Beijing, China, but did not make it past the qualifying round.

  

At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Okagbare won the silver medal in the long jump. Her jump of 6.99m put her in second place behind Brittney Reese of the United States by only 2 cm. In the 100m final, she placed sixth with a run of 11.04.  The 2010 graduate, University of Texas, El Paso (UTEP) also placed third in the Women's 200m race. She is a winner of many medals at various levels of athletic competitions such as Olympic Games, World Championships, All-Africa Games, African Championships, Continental Cup, USA Collegiate and other Athletic Championships. Having achieved such a laudable feat, she was recently rewarded by the Nigerian government with a sum of #3 million and #3.5 million for her coach. She is also expected to receive a National Honour later in the year.

          Blessing Okagbare is a huge source of motivation to people of the younger generation, within and outside Nigeria. She has proven to all and sundry that “what a man cannot do, a woman can do it even excellently”. Blessing has blessed Nigeria with medals.

           Gender or Socio-economic background is not a barrier to greatness. You must endeavour to leave indelible footprints on the sands of time just like Blessing Okagbare.

                       hrfnigeria@gmail.com          @HRF_Nigeria          08148327860

You may also want to read: HRF LEGEND OF THE WEEK #5, TUNDE KELANI http://hrfnigeria.blogspot.co.uk/2013/09/our-lrgend-of-week-5.html?m=1