Nigeria reigning sprint queen and 100/200m record holder Okagbare who topped the list of 12 Nigeria athletes; the Athletics Integrity Unit has cleared to compete in the athletics event of the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics, which begins on Friday. They were formerly banned from participating after failing to meet with the anti-doping test before the event.
Ten Nigeria Athletes Cleared to Participate in the ongoing Olympics
Blessing Okagbare, who is making her fourth appearance at the games, will be competing in the women’s 100m heat on Friday. The other athletes that were cleared to contest are sprint hurdler Tobiloba Amusan, long jumper Ese Brume and Grace Nwokocha, the home-based sensation who clocked 11.09 seconds in March at the MOC Grand Prix in Lagos to seal her qualification for the Tokyo Games.
Others are the trio of Divine Oduduru, Enoch Adegoke and Ushoritse Itshekiri, who will be competing in the men’s 100m while Oduduru will also race in the 200m, an event he holds the national record of 19.73 seconds which he set two years ago in Austin, Texas in the USA to win the NCAA gold.
Chukwuebuka Enekwechi was cleared for the shot put event. He made it to the event’s final at the World Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar, in 2019 is also removed to compete. Also, the 4x400m mixed relay quartet of Imaobong Nse Uko, Patience Okon-George, Nataniel Samson and Ifeanyi Ojeli are all cleared to compete and will be in action Friday in the first semifinal heat.
Prince Adeniyi Adisa Beyioku, Secretary-General of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, says the athletes are good spirits. They are determined to return Nigeria to the podium for the first time since 2008 Okagbare and the women’s 4x100m won Nigeria’s last medals in track and field.
