Paris 2024 Olympics: ‘Nigerians’ Ogunleye is Olympic Shot Put champion, Eid Naser wins silver in 400m
Nigerians may be heading for a medal less campaign at the Olympics for the first time 2012 but there are two athletes who have Nigerian blood flowing in their veins who have proved in an environment of good planning and organization, success will always be guaranteed.
That is the story of Yemisi Ogunleye and Salwa Eid Naser, formerly Ebelechukwu Agbapuonwu who came, saw conquered in the respective event, the Shot Put and the women’s 400m.
Ogunleye, born to a German mother and a Nigerian father, won the Shot Put gold with her final round throw of 20.00m after trailing New Zealand’s Maddison-Lee Wesche from the start of the event.
Wesche led from the start with her 19.58m second throw after both fouled their first-round efforts. The New Zealander looked to have made sure of the gold medal when she improved to 19.86m in the fifth round, but Yemisi, with the can-do spirit of a Nigerian inherited from her father and the disciplined nature of a German gotten from her mother, threw a massive 20.00m with her final throw of the competition to snatch the gold medal.
In the 400m, Eid Naser completed her comeback to glory from a whereabouts ban to win the silver, five years after winning the gold medal in the event at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
