Brume eyes another Commonwealth gold as athletes storm Benin for AFN Classics

Nigeria’s Ese Brume reacts as she competes in the women’s long jump final during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo on August 3, 2021. (Photo by Javier SORIANO / AFP)

Eight years after striking gold at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, long jumper, Ese Brume, is targeting another gold medal for Team Nigeria at the event this year in Birmingham, England.

Few athletes guarantee medals for their country like Brume. Since she broke into limelight in 2013, Brume has won a medal at every major championship she attended. She became the first Nigerian to win an Olympics medal in athletics in 13 years after grabbing a bronze at the Tokyo Olympics.

On March 22, this year, Brume won Nigeria’s only medal, a silver, at the World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, leaping to a new Personal Best of 6.85m.

Now, her focus is on winning the gold for Nigeria, when hostilities begin at Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. Speaking with The Guardian from her base in the United States, yesterday, Brume said she is in good shape for all major competitions, starting with the Senior African Athletics Championship in Mauritius.

“I am in good shape here,” Brume told The Guardian. “I will be available for the African Championships in Mauritius, the World Championships in Oregon and the Commonwealth Games, but that will depend on the AFN.”

In 2018, the then AFN leadership prevented Brume from defending her Commonwealth Games title at the Gold Coast, Australia, when her name was excluded from Team Nigeria’s 37-man athletes list.

Brume, who was Nigeria’s only athlete in the final of any event at the Rio 2016 Olympics, broke into limelight in 2013 when she won two gold and one silver medals at the African Junior Athletics