It was a beautiful and golden Sunday for Nigeria as five young ladies put smiles on the faces of their countrymen world over after a superlative and record breaking performance that moved the country to the sixth position.
Ese Brume won gold for Nigeria in the Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP) long jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Tobi Amusan got another record-breaking gold medal for team Nigeria, this time at the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Brume’s heroics came on the same day her friend Tobi Amusan also set a new Games Record in the women’s 100m hurdles.
Tobi lined up in the final as favourite for gold and there was no stopping her as she blazed to a new Games Record of 12.30 seconds to retain the title she won four years ago in the Gold Coast, Australia.
Brume had a no jump on her first attempt but bounced back right away to jump 6.99m to take the lead in the final and set a new Games Record.
She added no jump, 6.99m, 6.81m, 6.99m, and 6.96m in her subsequent jumps but none of her opponents could match or surpass her thereby securing gold with a jump to spare.
However, on her very last attempt, Brume jumped seven meters for another Games Record to become the first woman to jump that far in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
Brume has been arguably Nigeria’s most consistent athlete over the past four years.
She burst onto the scene by winning gold as an 18-year-old at the 2014 commonwealth games in Glasgow but could not defend her title four years ago in the Gold Coast in Australia.
However, since then, She has been on a consistent run, winning bronze at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019. She followed that up by winning another bronze at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
She took it up a notch higher by winning silver at the World indoors in March before matching the feat on the biggest athletics stage in Eugene, Oregon two weeks ago.
Devynne Charlton finished a distant second to win silver for the Bahamas while Cindy Sember whose father is Nigerian won bronze for Great Britain.
Amusan lined up in the final as favourite for gold and there was no stopping her as she blazed to a new games record of 12.30 seconds to retain the 100m hurdles she won four years ago in the Gold Coast, Australia.
Devynne Charlton finished a distant second to win silver for the Bahamas while Cindy Sember whose father is Nigerian won bronze for Great Britain.
Despite winning the race comfortably, Amusan said she did not execute it to the best of her ability.
“Mentally, it was challenging. It was nerve-racking. You know, when I say I poorly executed race, I know when I execute smoothly,” she said.
“I think my first five hurdles weren’t it, but I was able to get myself together and regroup and do what I needed to do and I did just that’’.
She dedicated her latest gold medal to God, her support system which includes her family, supporters, and her Jamaican coach, Lacena Golding Clarke under whom she has been training since 2016.
The 25-year-old has been in blistering form in the past year, breaking the African 100 meters hurdles record three times in the past 10 months.
After narrowly missing out on the podium twice at the World Athletics Championships in Doha in 2019 and at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics where she placed fourth on both occasions, Amusan finally struck gold at the World Championships in Oregon while setting a world record of 12.12 seconds in the semi-finals.
Amusan went even faster in the final race, clocking 12.06 seconds. However, her winning time is not recognised as a world record due to an illegal tailwind of 2.5 metres per second.
4 X 100m relay Gold
Tobi Amusan was drafted in to run the lead leg as team Nigeria struck another gold medal in the 4×100 meters women’s relay.
Amusan, along with Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Grace Nwokocha, clocked a new African record of 42.10 seconds to place first ahead of the host nation, England, and the Island of Jamaica.
Amusan, who was drafted in for Joy Udo-Gabriel barely one hour after retaining her 100 meters hurdles title in record time, started the race strong for Nigeria before smoothly passing the baton to 200 meters silver medallist, Favour Ofili.
Ofili maintained Nigeria’s pace before handing over to Chukwuma who built a substantial lead ahead of the chasing pack.
England, led off by Asha Philip, Imani Lansiquot and Bianca Williams delivered the baton into the final 100 meters with ground to make up on Nigeria.
Daryll Neita, who anchored England, briefly threatened to reel in Nigeria’s anchor Nwokocha as the crowd perhaps sensed a dramatic comeback, but the English team ran out of track and had to settle for second place on the podium.
Double Olympic champion Elaine Thompson-Herah recovered from a sloppy final baton exchange to earn Jamaica bronze to add to her personal tally of gold in both the 100 and 200 meters.
Faith Idehen, Mary Tombiri, Christy Opara-Thompson, and Mary Onyali were the last quartet to win gold for Nigeria at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada.
In the men’s version of the 4x100m relay, Team Nigeria settled for bronze as the quartet of Udodi Onwuzuruike, who replaced Seye Ogunlewe, along with Favour Ashe, Alaba Akintola, and Raymond Ekevwo, clocked 38.81 seconds to place 3rd.
Defending champions, England, retained their 4×100 meters relay gold as Ojie Edoburun anchored home a blazing display.
Edoburun, who was called up to the team in place of the injured Reece Prescod, finished clear of Trinidad and Tobago in 38.35 seconds.
Jona Efoloko replaced Adam Gemili on the opening leg with Zharnel Hughes and Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake impressing in the middle of the race.
Auckland 1990 was the last time Nigeria had two relay teams finishing on the podium in the 4x100m at the Commonwealth Games.
▪︎ Main report by Channels Television
▪︎ Photo credits: Amusan: Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP
Photo of Tobi Amusan, Nigeria’s Favour Ofili, Nigeria’s Rosemary Chukwuma, and Nigeria’s Nzubechi Grace Nwokocha by Glyn KIRK / AFP
Brume: Photo by Ben Stansall / AFP)