Blessing Okagbare’s experience and bright performances will be a tonic to the track and field athletes of Team Nigeria when they begin competing from Friday.
Alongside Okagbare are 11 other athletes, including Oluwatobi Amusan, Ese Brume, Divine Oduduru, Grace Nwokocha, Chukwuebuka Enewechi, Enoch Adegoke, Usheoritse Itsekiri, Patience Okon-George, Imaobong Uko and Emmanuel Ojeli.
Favour Ofili and Ruth Usoro both U.S.-based collegiate athletes, who came into the Nigerian Olympics radar late in the qualifiers have completed two of the three mandatory out of competition tests, OCT, required and are awaiting final clearance.
10 Nigerian athletes, most of whom are alternates, who have not fulfilled the three mandatory OCT tests required, are in the process of taking their tests.
They must take the final tests one day before competition. The process to get them tested has since been activated by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria.
The athletics team has moved into the Olympic Village from their training camp in Kizarazu and will be in action from day one of competition with Okagbare leading Grace Nwokocha in the women’s 100m heats.
The mixed relay team will also be in action as the team strives to return to the podium 13 years after it last did at the Games of the XXIX Olympiad held in Beijing, China in 2008.
While Okagbare will be competing in the event for the third time since she made it to the final at the Games of the XXX Olympiad in London in 2012, Nwokocha, the fastest home-based athlete since Mercy Nku ran 11.04 seconds in 1997 in Benin will be making her debut in the event at the biggest sporting fiesta on earth.
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