7. Blessing Okagbare
Year 2016 was a mixed one for Nigeria’s track queen, Blessing Okagbare. The Double Commonwealth Champion opened her 100m outdoor season at the Seiko Golden Grand Prix World Challenge in Kawasaki, Japan where she finished 2nd, running a time of 11.30s, before going on to record a Season’s Best (SB) of 22.58s to win the 200m at the Sollentuna Grand Prix in Stockholm, Sweden.
Brimming with so much confidence ahead of the National Championships in her hometown of Sapele, and not allowing the loss of her African Record to Cote D’Ivoire’s Murielle Ahouré deter her, Okagbare didn’t disappoint, claiming a historic 7th 100m title in an SB of 11.02s, before going on to make it a double by clocking 22.77s to take victory in the 200m.
This provided a glimmer of hope for fans around the world ahead of the Olympics, considering that she was yet tot record her first sub-11s of the year at the time, with many believing that Rio was just the perfect venue to peak.
Unfortunately, things were not so smooth for the Beijing 2008 Long Jump Bronze medallist as she did not make the final in both of her individual events, after recording times of 11.09s and 22.69s in the 100m/200m respectively in the semifinal stage.
The 4x100m was a much better performance, with her being part of the quartet that got to the final, where they finished 8th overall.
With the season proving a little disappointing for the former African Champion, this raises the question as to how much longer she’ll compete at the top level.
While the Commonwealth 100m Record holder might be looking forward to bouncing back at of 2017 World Championships in London, who knows, this might just be the moment she decides to take some time off to concentrate on starting a family.
Whatever the answers are, we’ll choose to stick with the quote that says: “Never rule out the heart of Champions, for when you least expect is when they perform most”.
