BLESSING OKAGBARE DASHES NIGERIA'S HOPES FOR A MEDAL IN 100 METRES SPRINT

Nigerian sprinter Blessing Okagbare dashed the hopes of Nigeria by coming last in the Women's 100 metres sprint. The sprinter was Nigeria's brightest hope for a medal in track and field. After an inspiring first place finish at the semi finals, there were high hopes that she would repeat the performance and bring home the gold medal. She ran a lackluster race, beginning with a bad start to place last position. Shirley Fraser Pryce of Jamaica won gold, Carmelita Jeter from the U.S.A won silver and Veronica Campbell Brown won bronze.

OLYMPIC TRACK AND FIELD EVENTS START TODAY

The track and field events are historically the supreme events at any Olympics. they were the events of the ancient Olympics in Greece. Though the track track and field events now share the spotlight with an increasing number of of other sports like football and basketball they still are at the heart of the modern games.

Blessing okagbare

Tosin oke

The track and field events are traditionally Nigeria's strong point and we have always managed to snag a few medals in these events. Nigeria's hopefuls at the track and field events for men are Triple jumper Tosin Oke, 400 metre hurdler Amaechi Morton and 100metre runners Obinna Metu and Egwero Ogene. Our brightest chance for a medal remains Blessing Okagbare who is competing in the 100 metres sprint with a personal best of 10.96 seconds. Omolara Omotosho and Regina George both stand a strong chance in the 400 metre women's race.
Former captain of team Nigeria, Long jumper Yussuf Ali whose 8.27 metre jump remains unbeaten in two and a half decades is predicting four medals for Nigeria in the track and field. President of the Athletics federation of Nigeria Chief Solomon Ogba, banned visitors from the meeting with the athletes to ensure they concentrate and are in the best mental form to perform at the games.