African record holder in the women’s Long Jump event, Nigeria’s Ese Brume, has qualified for the final stage of the event at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics.
The Nigerian, early on Sunday morning leapt to a distance of 6.76m, 1cm more than the required mark to seal her place among the contestants that would be competing for medals in the final on Tuesday.
She had the fourth overall best Jump among the finalists; perhaps saving her best for the right moment.
Brume is Nigeria’s sole representative in the jumps in Tokyo since the disqualification of Ruth Usoro by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Usoro had met the qualifying standards for both the Long and Tripple jump events but was denied a debut appearance at the Games.
On her part, Brume who was Nigeria’s only medalist at the last World Championship in Doha is rightly seen as one of the country’s brightest medal prospects in Tokyo.
Having broken the long-standing 7.12m record of Chioma Ajunwa in the build up to the Olympic Games, expectations are high she could also deliver gold like the police officer did 25 years ago in Atlanta.
Apart from Ajunwa’s gold in Atlanta, Blessing Okagbare is the only other Nigerian to have won a medal in the Olympic Long Jump event having won silver at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.
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