By Victor Kanayo
Two Africans – Favour Ofili and Jessica Gbai failed to make it to the podium in the Women’s 200m final at the ongoing 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France on Tuesday night.
While Ofili, Nigeria’s medal hopeful finished 6th on lane 9, Gbai of Ivory Coast ended in number 8th position on lane 3.
Eventual Winner
Incidentally, USA’s Gabby Thomas grabbed the gold medal.
Thomas crossed the finish line in 21.83s ahead of 100m Olympic champion Julien Afred from Saint Lucia who finished in a time of 22.08s.
USA’s Brittany Brown was third in 22.20s.
Another Dashed Hope
Another athlete, Blessing Oborududu dashed Nigeria’s hope of entering the medals’ table after she was beaten to bronze medal in women’s 68kg freestyle wrestling event.
Oborududu who won Silver at 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, fell short this time in her bid for a bronze medal after losing 3-0 to a two-time World Champion Ozaki Nonoka.
The 21-year-old Japanese was too quick and technical for the 13-time African champion during the entire six minutes of the fight.
Earlier on Tuesday, Nigeria’s Samuel Ogazi ran the race of his life to qualify for the final of the men’s 400m.
Ogazi finished third in the semi-final with a new PB of 44.41, booking his spot in the final as one of the two fastest non-automatic qualifiers.
The 18-year-old thus became the first Nigerian to make it to the final of the men’s 400m at the Olympics since Innocent Egbunike at the Seoul 1988 Olympics.
