Where does Okagbare go from here?

Blessing Okagbare wins Nigeria's first medal in 14 years

Its now official Blessing Okagbare is the only athlete in the country that can bless Nigeria with a medal in a world major international event, actually not a medal but two.. According to Wikipedia, Nigeria's population is approximately 170 million which makes the 'Giant of Africa' the most populous country in Africa and ranks 7th in the world. Out of this populace we have millions of supposed to be athletes that train their hearts out everyday, if you go to the National Stadium Surulere on a Saturday morning, you will think the Olympics is just about to kick off there. Unilag sports centre is not exempted, people troop in and troop in and one wonders if the Redeem camp has shifted base to the 'university of choice'... But after all the merry go round, gallivanting, there is only 1 athlete that matters in the Federal Republic of Nigeria and that's Blessing Okagbare.

It all started on October 9th 1988 when the African 'Queen of track and field' was introduced to planet earth in Sapele area of Delta state. She attended defunct Association primary school, but had challenges and had to change to go to a more modest Okotie Primary School II.

It was in High school that her sporting prowess were discovered. Back then, She was always found playing football and intended to take up that career until she was talked out of it by a coach and teacher in her elder sister's school who noticed her athleticism and advised her to venture into track and field.

Blessing's sporting prowess was spotted in high school

“I grew up in Sapele as a normal kid and it gave me a lot of challenges in life. Actually, I used to play soccer for my high school sometimes and later on fell in love doing track. A coach from my elder sister’s school talked me into doing sports,” she told iaaf.com.

Since then she started jumping- she took to long jump, high jump and triple jump.. Her turning point as a jumper came in 2004 when she won gold in long jump and bronze in high jump for Delta State at the 2004 National Secondary Schools Games in Owerri, Imo State.

Still that same year, she won a bronze medal in the triple jump event at the 14th National Sports Festival in Abuja. The feat was remarkable as it earned her her first international outing at the 2006 World Junior Athletics Championships in Beijing.

Okagbare: Nigeria's first ever double medalist in a world championship

She never looked back from then, In May 2007, at the All-Africa Games trials in Lagos, she established a Nigerian record of 14.13 metres in the triple jump. At the 2007 All-Africa Games she won the silver medal in the long jump and finished fourth in the triple jump. In the latter competition her Nigerian record was beaten by Chinonye Ohadugha, who jumped 14.21 metres. She went on to make her mark on the world stage by winning bronze medal in long jump at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
It was not until 2009 that her jump coach Kebba Tolbert noticed her do 11.21 seconds in sprint which eventually motivated her to start doing the sprints, hence following the heroic path of Nigeria's greatest ever Olympian Chioma Ajunwa by combining the track and the field events together. She immediately laid her mark in the short sprint as she won the 100m gold medal at the 2009 National athletics championship.

She went on to win the 100m gold medal at the 2010 African championships in Nairobi and also continued her dominance in long Jump by winning another gold medal. Up came the 2011 All African games in Maputo, Okagbare could only muster a second place finish in the 100m but leaped to a gold medal win in the long jump.

These and many more tagged her medal favorite for Team Nigeria at the 2012 London Olympics, but the then 23 year old could not absorb the pressure and she cracked as she finished last place in the Women's 100m final. Coming back to Nigeria she received a lot of sticks and stones from passionate patriots that were looking for their first Olympic Gold medal in 16 years.

The very moment Blessing Okagbare broke the jinx

But fast-forward one year, the Sapele born has gathered those stones and built a beautiful castle with it as she broke a 14 year curse plaguing her country by winning its first medal since 1999 and being the only Nigerian double medalist in the history of the IAAF world championship. Blessing won a Silver medal at the Long Jump and Bronze in the 200m.

Where does she go from here?

After attaining legendary status in Moscow, Okagbare can hold her head up high and confidently say she's the 'most useful individual' in the country. She could use it to her advantage you know?

Obikwelu is now a happy man in Portugal

The federal government know they cant toil with Blessing and will have to yield to her demands, if she says she wants a house in V.I, please they should give her the whole Island. From experience, A lot of championship medalists have ported to greener pastures just because their achievements weren't given the recognition they deserved . Both Gloria Alozie and Francis Obikwelu were the last two athletes to win medals for Nigeria in the World championships but they switched allegiance to Spain and Portugal respectively when they saw Nigeria wasnt ready to pay them all due respect.

Chioma Ajunwa is now a Police Officer

Nigeria's first and only individual Gold medalist said of her experience after her unprecedented feat 'Yes, I was given M.O.N (Member Of The Order of the Niger). What is the meaning of being given M.O.N? M.O.N was given to everybody that went for the (Atlanta ’96) Games. So, what makes mine different? Members of the national football team (the then Green Eagles, now Super Eagles) that won the African Nations Cup in 1980 were all given houses in FESTAC Town. My manager, Chief Segun Odegbami, was one of them. I’ve been there and I can tell you it’s such an awesome house. But what do I have to show for my own achievement? Nothing. Is there any street named after Chioma Ajunwa in Abuja? Nowhere. All you see is Cameroun Street, Alhaji Street, Sadiat Street and all such nonsense. But people that bring honour to this country with their own money and energy get nothing. That’s why people say I am looking old because I ran all my life for this country; I jumped all through for this country. All I get is M.O.N. What is M.O.N? All these small boys that they are giving M.O.N now, what have they done for this country?'

To cut her long story short, she needs E-Y at the end of the MON.

Kirani James is Grenada's first and only Gold medalist 

If Nigeria wants to learn how to treat their heroes and heroines like the kings and the queens they are, they should tear a leaf from Grenada's books. Kirani James representing the small island won their first and only Olympic gold medal at the London 2012 Olympic games. The 20 year old's domestic reception proved to be an euphoric one. Thousands lined the street in preparation of his return and he was greeted with an emphatic and vociferous national pride. Also upon his arrival the Prime Minister Tillman Thomas announced Mr. James would be bequeathed government bonds totaling up to EC500,000, a commemorative stamp be crafted in his honor, a new stadium be named for him and that he would be appointed a tourism ambassador.

So if Blessing Okagbare wants to be swimming in money, She should just walk up to the President of Nigeria and commander in chief of the armd forces, table all her demands in front of his excellency,  threaten him that she's going to leave this country for good just like her heroic predecessors her wish is not his command....  Trust me, Mr President will grant all her heart desires. She has earned the right to eat out of the National cake afterall Nigeria has not done anything for her since she was born

Okagbare is angry at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria

“ They know what they have to do, we don’t need to keep talking. For me I started training since December and my country has not come to ask me what I need to get to Moscow. Maybe they don’t want me to go to Moscow, but I am preparing myself with or without them and my goal is to be the champion,” she confessed after winning the 100m Gold medal at the Calabar championships last month.

 I'm pretty much sure the government will turn the Central Bank of Nigeria upside down just to keep their most priced asset.

Blessing now in search of her first ever Gold medal in an international world event.

Career wise, if Blessing wants be the Golden girl of Nigeria i.e if she ever wants to win a Gold medal in the Olympics or at the world championships, she must concentrate on just one sport. On her day, She has the ability to be the best runner in the world as she proved when she dusted Shelly-Ann Frasier at the same time smashing the African women’s 100m record twice on her way to victory at the London Anniversary Games last month. She also has the guts to be the best jumper in the world as we saw in Moscow. But can she successfully combine the two sports? NOT ATALL, one has to suffer and like we saw at the world championships her shorter sprint suffered.

Okagbare had a below par performance in the Women's 100m final

Marion Jones in tears as she's stripped of all her 5 Olympic medals

The only woman to successfully combine the two sports was Mario Jones. At the Sydney Olympics Jones finished with three gold medals (100 metre sprint, 200 metre sprint and 4x400 relay) and two bronze medals (long jump and 4x100 relay), however she was later stripped of these medals after admitting that she had used performance-enhancing drugs. So if Okagbare is dreaming she can win medals in the sprints and long jump in a world major event, she must be on drugs.

My advice to Blessing Okagbare is for her to pick a spot, form a circle with it and make the circle bigger. Her best bet should be the Long Jump and Triple Jump.