Nigeria recorded its first medal win at the ongoing Tokyo Olympics following Ese Brume’s performance in the long jump event on Tuesday morning.
The long jumper leaped 6.97 meters to claim the bronze medal in the long jump event.
Brume is Nigeria’s first athlete to win an Olympic medal in 13 years.
The winner of the gold medal, Malaika Mihambo, who is the current world champion jumped 7.00m.
The silver medal went to Brittney Reese of the United States of America with a jump of 6.97m. Reese was the winner of the gold medal at the London Olympics in 2012.
Brume dominated with her first jump of 6.97m but fell behind following her next jump which stood at 6.67 meters and her third jump was disallowed due to a foul.
Early on, the medal contenders had bunched up at the top with Mihambo moving within 2cm of Brume’s 6.97m and Serbia’s Ivana Spanovic in third with 6.91m.
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The eventual silver medalist rose to the top spot after her third attempt, moving ahead of the Nigerian contender’s performance of 6.97m by virtue of having the second-longest effort, but the Nigerian’s second-best jump of 6.88m on her fourth attempt put her back into the overall lead.
Reese’s fourth attempt of 6.87m jump meant she was behind Brume by a centimeter. But her fifth attempt of 6.95m raised her to the top position.
In the final attempt, the race for gold narrowed down to Mihambo, Reese and Brume.
The eventual winner, Mihambo scored 7.00m in her final jump, shooting her from bronze to gold position.
Brume had her foot well behind the line in her last jump (6.90m) which did not improve on her best, forcing her to settle for bronze.
