Athletics Federation of
Nigeria officials are reeling with shock, following Blessing Okagbare’s decision not to start the women 200m at the
IAAF World Championships on-going in Beijing, China. This is against the
background of her poor showing in the women 100m where she placed last. Before
that race on Monday, Okagbare, had shown signs of distress.
Her coach was seen whispering words
of encouragement into her ears. Yesterday, she was warming up for the heats of
the 200m, but when the athletes were asked to report to the call room, she
was nowhere to be found. “We don’t know for sure what happened to her.
Personally, I have tried the lines of the technical officials and there wasn’t
any response,” said Olukoyde Thomas the AFN spokesman in Beijing.
Prior to the championships, Okagbare had excluded herself from the national
trials in Warri, with an alibi that she was unfit and needed medical
attention. She was given a wild card by the AFN. Her name is also missing
from the start-list of the long jump event, which starts today.
She won a bronze in the 200m and a
silver in the long jump at the 2013 championships in Moscow. “It is sad for the
country that we are relying on one athlete. I don’t know what happened to
Okagbare in Beijing, we can only hope that it is nothing that will tarnish the
image of the country,” said an athletics coach yesterday.
Triple jumper, Tosin Oke is the
other Nigerian that saw action yesterday. He jumped 16.74m, which was good
enough to see him to the final, and it is a strong field of 17. 00m jumpers.
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