Okagbare’s Beijing 2008 Long Jump Bronze to be Upgraded to Silver

Following yesterday’s withdrawal of the silver medal won by Russian athlete, Tatyana Lebedeva, in the women’s long jump event of Beijing 2008 Olympic Games by IOC due to dope infraction, Nigeria’s track and field star, Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor is to have her bronze medal upgraded to silver.

Okagbare qualified for the final of the long jump event by default. She placed 13th in the preliminary round but as a child of destiny, she was lifted to join the last 12 in the final race to the podium following the disqualification of Ukraine’s Lyudmila Blonska.

The then shy, Delta State athlete from Sapele who was attending her very first Olympic, made history winning the precious bronze of the event with a leap of 6.91m behind Lebedeva who jumped 6.97m to win the silver. Brazil’s Maurren Maggi won the gold.

It is not only Okagbare who is going to profit from the realignment of the long jump result. Jamaica’s Chelsea Hammond is to move up from fourth position to the bronze.

According to the IOC, this development is part of the intelligence-gathering process that started in August 2015 to curb drug cheats in athletics.

Lebedeva was found to have committed an anti-doping rule violation pursuant to the IOC Anti-Doping Rules applicable to the Games of the XXIX Olympiad in Beijing in 2008. Retests of Lebedeva’s Beijing 2008 urine revealed samples of banned substance like dehydro chlormethyl testosterone.

It is expected that the IOC is going to request the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) to modify the results of the event accordingly and perhaps apply its sanctions where applicable.

Beijing 2008 is partly responsible for the upswing in the track and field career of Okagbare who later became the arrow head of the country’s athletics.

Until yesterday’s decision by IOC, Team Nigeria won two silver medals in the men’s U-23 football team led by Samson Siasia and the women’s 4×100 metres relay team. Chika Chukwumerije won the country’s other bronze medal in taekwondo.

With a scholarship to undergraduate studies at the University of Texas in El Paso (UTEP), Okagbare blossomed, winning the NCAA titles as well as World Championship medals.

She also holds the Women’s 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds. Her 100 m best of 10.79 made her the African record holder for the event until it was eclipsed by Murielle Ahoure in 2016.

She was the African 100 m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals at the AllAfrica Games, IAAF Continental Cup and World Relays.