‘Ese Brume says it’s the gold this time at Tokyo 2025 World Championships’: Olopade reveals conversation with Olympics and Worlds medalist

Bukola Olawale Olopade, the Director General of the National Sports Commission, NSC, has revealed that Nigeria and Africa’s long jump record holder (7.17m), Ese Brume is targeting the event’s gold next September at the 20th World Athletics Championships in Tokyo, Japan.

According to Olopade, Brume, 28, who was involved in a car accident recently is determined to move up to gold after a bronze medal (2019) and a silver medal (2022) win in the event.

The NSC Director General revealed the conversation he had with the Olympic and World indoor championships medalist after she survived a car accident recently.

‘When we spoke, I asked her what I could tell the Chairman (of the NSC, Mallam Shehu Dikko) to do for her immediately.

‘She made me proud when she said, ‘All I need right now is whatever the Commission can give me as a training grant to help me buy a small vehicle so I can continue my training because I want to win the World Championship in September next year.’

‘That touched me deeply,” Olopade said in a press statement signed by his media aide, Kola Daniel.

Brume will be making her fourth appearance in World Athletics’ flagship event if she qualifies and a place for her at the podium will be the first time in three attempts that Nigrian will be winning a medal at the event on Japanese soil.

Nigeria was not among the 29 countries that won medals when Tokyo first hosted the Championships in 1991 with as many as four athletes (Mary Onyali, 100m, Christy Opara-Thompson,Long Jump, Olopade Adeniken,200m and George Ogbeide, Long Jump) making it to the final while the women’s 4x100m and 4x400m relays and the men’s 4x100m relay team alao made it to the final.

Nigeria was back in Japan 16 years later, this time in Osaka but still finished outside the medal zone with Olusoji Fasuba’s fourth place finish the highlight of Nigeria’s performance