In Ese Brume we trust as Nigerians turn attention to the Long Jump event for salvation
Once again, Ese Brume has become one of the very few athletes Nigerians are banking on for a medal as the Paris 2024 Olympics gets to the home straight.
Team Nigeria has been conspicuously absent on the medal table since the start of the Games on July 26 but that may change when Brume leads two others, Ruth Usoro and Prestina Ochonogor into a historic women’s long jump final on Thursday evening.
Brume, 28, is not unfamiliar with this rescue mission as she was one of only two athletes to ensure Nigeria gets to the medal table three years ago in Tokyo, Japan.
Exactly three years and seven days ago today, Brume leapt into history books as only the third Nigerian after Glory Alozie and Blessing Okagbare to win at least a medal at both the World Athletics Championships and the Olympics and the second after Alozie to also win at the World indoors.
The African champion and record holder will not only be performing a rescue mission but also eyeing a place in the history books as the first Nigerian track and field athlete to win two individual medals at the Olympics.
The best the country has had were two athletes, Mary Onyali and Falilat Ogunkoya who won individual and relay medals each while the third, Enefiok Udobong needed the help of others to win two relay medals.
Brume surely has the temperament and the experience to rescue Nigeria and make history. She won the bronze medal three years ago with her 6.97m first round jump and will be hoping for an explosive start again as Nigerians wait for their hero to deliver them again.
The stage Thursday evening will not only be for Brume as Usoro and Ochonogor will also be hoping for a place at the podium. A Nigerian clean sweep?
Usoro, the Nigerian leader in the event so far this year with the 6.87m she jumped six months ago, will be hoping to jump farther than that as she bids to become the fourth Nigerian woman to win a medal in the event at the Olympics after Chioma Ajunwa, Blessing Okagbare and Brume.
Ochonogor, 18, also knows a jump farther than her 6.79m lifetime best she achieved in Calabar in April is what she needs to stand a chance of winning in her debut like Ajunwa did in 1996 and Okagbare in 2008.
