Okagbare and Morton help Nigeria to two gold medals on day 2 of Africa Athletics Championship
The disappointment of Thursday was washed away on Friday as the duo of Blessing Okagbare and Amechi Morton picked up gold medals in the Long Jump and 400m Hurdles respectively.
Okagbare had failed to defend her 100m title win in Nairobi by coming second in the 100m final; however, she redeemed herself and the country with a gold medal leap in the final of the Long Jump event, which she also won in Kenya.
The Olympic bronze medallist leapt to the title with an impressive jump of 6.96m which is a new Championship record. Janice Josephs of South Africa was second with a leap of 6.29m and another South African, Lynique Prinsloo finished third with 6.15m.
Amechi Morton picked up the first gold medal of the day in the men?s 400m hurdles.
Morton, who is making his debut at the African Championships, made a last minute decision to compete for Nigeria and proved the switch would be a favourable one for Nigeria. He is now considered as one of the few athletes who could get an individual athletics medal at the summer Olympics in London.
The Stanford University graduate won the race in 49.32s and was closely followed by Mamadou Hanne in 49.39s and Boniface Macheru (49.45s). Defending champion, Lj Van Zyl of South Africa could not continue the race as he tripped over a hurdle.
Also, Nigeria?s women?s 4x100m relay team broke the former record of 43.45s which was set in Nairobi two years ago, by setting a new time of 43.21s. The team comprised of Christy Udoh, Gloria Asumnu, Damola Osayomi and Lawretta Ozoh. Ghana followed in 44.35s while Cote d?Ivoire won bronze with 45.29s.
Jide, formerly a professional footballer, is now a sports writer.
