Ese Brume on Tuesday won the very first medal for Team Nigeria in the women’s long jump event at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
The reigning African record holder however expressed delight at winning the first medal for the country.
Brume placed third after she surrendered silver on countback to Britney Reese of the U.S. as both leaped to 6.97m, while Malaika Mihambo of Germany got gold with her last jump with a leap of 7.00m.
A visibly excited Brume, who was in tears of joy while holding the Nigerian flag said: “Thank you Jesus and thank you all for your prayers. Thank you, thank you so much.
The Doha 2019 Bronze medallist said:” I’m just excited, I’m grateful. I’m super happy that I was able to make it to Top 3. I really want to thank God. I can’t contain my joy; it doesn’t matter the medal; I’m just super happy I made Top 3.”
When asked what the medal means to her, she said: “This medal means that God is alive, Jesus is alive. It has been a great season even though I got injured in April, but I never settled for less. I never looked at the situation but I kept on pushing and my coach kept on pushing and told me ‘Ese you can do it’. Thank God I’m here today.”
Brume breezed through the qualification round on Sunday as her leap of 6.76 m automatically qualified her for Tuesday’s final.
After an exciting competition during which the lead changed hands frequently between Reese and Brume, Mihambo, who was placed third going into the final round, settled the deal with her last leap.
Reigning world champion Mihambo started well as she encouraged the crowd to make some noise before taking the lead on her first attempt with a jump of 6.83m.
But she was instantly overtaken by Nigeria’s in-form jumper Brume with a leading score of 6.97m which set the standard in the first of six attempts.
