Ese Brume begins bid for historic Olympic long jump medal

All eyes will be on Nigerian, African and Commonwealth long jump queen, Ese Brume as he begins, on Tuesday, her bid to make Olympics history.

Brume has been drawn in the first of two qualifying groups and the Nigerian has been set a target of 6.75m to hit to qualify automatically for her third straight final in the long jump.

The 28 year old is bidding to become the first Nigerian track and field athlete, man or woman, to win two individual medals at the Olympics, surpassing the feats set by the trio of Mary Onyali who won a 200m bronze and 4x100m bronze, Falilat Ogunkoya who won a 400m bronze in African record time of 49.10 and silver in the 4x400m as well as Enefiok Udobong who won two rely medals.

The 28 year old Brume won a bronze medal three years ago in Tokyo, Japan, to improve on her fifth place finish in her debut five years earlier in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

The medal completed a grand slam of sort for Nigeria in the event following Chioma Ajunwa’s gold medal winning feat in Atlanta in 1996 and Blessing Okagbare’s silver medal effort in 2008 in Beijing.

The long jump pit at the Stade de France won’t be for just one Nigerian in the group as Ruth Usoro has been drawn in Brume’s group to fight for spots in the final.

Usoro, the Nigerian leader in the event this year will be aiming to leap past the 6.75m qualification mark, so also will be Prestina Oluchi Ochonogor who will need just jump a new lifetime best to get a place in the final in her debut.