Blessing Okagbare: Anti-climax for a ‘quintessential track queen’

Okagbare

From the middle of 2000 till July last year, there was, perhaps, no more beloved and famous Nigerian athlete than Blessing Okagbare.

The Delta State-born sprinter was almost the sole reason many people cared about track and field events. She rose so fast in the field to become queen of the track, winning medals as if there were no tomorrow.

Okagbare announced her presence at the Olympics level by grabbing a silver medal in the long jump event at Beijing 2008. She also won several medals at the African Games, as well as World Championships in long jump and 200 metres race. Okagbare also holds the women’s 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds.

But her legacy in athletics, years of labour and good name has been stripped off her, courtesy of a ban that has effectively nailed her career.

A doping scandal, which revealed that Okagbare had been taking banned substances to enhance her performance, earned her a career-ending 10-year ban last Friday.

The news of Okagbare’s fall from grace came as a big shock, not only to the athlete, but also to her fans, family members and many followers of athletics in Nigeria. It has been described as one of the unpleasant moments in Nigeria’s sports history.

On June 3, 2021, Okagbare wore a luminous smile in the city of Samorin, Slovakia, when she set a new meet record of 10.98 seconds to win the 100m event at the P-T-S Meeting, the first ever by any woman in the Eastern European country. It was one of her build up races for the Tokyo Olympic Games.

A few weeks later in the middle of the Olympics Games, Okagbare became the subject of attention for the wrong reasons and gloom enveloped Team Nigeria’s camp. The triumphant Blessing of Samorin, Slovakia,