Blessing Okagbare
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Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri (born 9 October 1988) is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in Long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump, and a world medalist in the 200 meters. She also holds the Women's 100 meters Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving an 11-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.
Quotes[edit]
- There is no magic in sports, as much as we the athletes want to go there and win, but there is always somebody who is working harder than you are, and more is being invested in that person than in you.
- [1]
- Interview on Nigerians who always expect instant success.
- It starts from the way you eat or sleep, the people you surround yourself with, the people that educate you, the people that sponsor you, the people that tell you that you can do it, versus Nigerians, the majority of whom just criticize.
- [2]
- Interview on what criticism has done to her.
- You get to another stage of your life where you just don’t say things or do things like ‘I don’t know if I want to do this thing, I’m not sure’, no you have to want it, that’s just it.
- [3]
- Interview on how she has changed over the years.
- Sports is big business. You have to invest. And you know we have great talents in Nigeria but you know, at the end of the day, all do not pay attention to these talents. They don’t prepare us for these major championships.
- [4]
- Blessing Okagbare laments the federation's attitude killing Nigerian Athletics.
- I feel like most of the time, really some of us don’t pay so much attention on ourselves and try to put other people or other things into it. At the end of the day, we lose focus on the things we’re supposed to focus on.
- [5]
- The Nigeria Athletics social media page.
Quotes about Blessing[edit]
- She (Blessing Okagbare) is good, she’s got good character and she’s doing fine. She’s hardworking; she sprints and jumps well. I also want to sprint like her.
- Ese Brume as quoted in EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW with ESE BRUME, Nigerian, African & Commonwealth Long Jump CHAMPION!, Making of Champions, September 8, 2014.
