By Samuel Akpan in Paris
With another underwhelming performance on Day 13 of the Olympics, Nigeria’s medal drought spilled over to Day 14, with major slips from Folashade Rafiatu Lawal in women’s 59 kg weightlifting and Ese Brume in the women’s long jump final compounding more woes for Team Nigeria.
Brume, who won a bronze medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, narrowly missed a podium finish in a highly competitive field.
Joining Brume in the competition were Olympic debutants Ruth Usoro and Prestina Oluchi Ochonogor, who finished in 10th and 12th place, respectively.
Usoro achieved a jump of 6.58 meters, while Ochonogor recorded a distance of 6.24 meters.
Despite not medaling, their performances showcased the depth of talent within Nigeria’s athletics programme and provided valuable experience on the world stage.
Meanwhile, Nigeria’s Folashade Rafiatu Lawal missed out on a podium finish in women’s 59 kg weightlifting, finishing 5th in the event with a total lift of 230 kg in the Snatch and Clean & Jerk.
Lawal came so close to getting a bronze medal but missed out on 3rd place by 5kg overall.
The Nigerian weightlifter gave it her all, smashing her personal best in the Clean and Jerk by 5 kg.
Schedule of Day 14 for Team Nigeria
TAEKWONDO (Grand Palais)
08:09 – Women -67kg Round of 16 – Elizabeth Oluchi Anyanacho vs. Song Jie (China)
WRESTLING (Champ-de-Mars Arena)
10:00 – Women’s Freestyle 62kg 1/8 Final – Esther Omolayo Kolawole vs. Aisuluu Tynybekova (Kyrgyzstan)
10:00 – Men’s Freestyle 125kg 1/8 Final – Ashton Adeyemi Mutuwa vs. Daniel Ligeti (Hungary)
ATHLETICS (Stade de France)
10:05 – Men’s 4 x 400m Relay Round 1 – Nigeria
11:05 – Women’s 100m Hurdles Semi-Final – Tobi Amusan
CYCLING TRACK (Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines)
13:00 – Women’s Sprint, Qualifying – Ese Ukpeseraye
WEIGHTLIFTING (South Paris Arena)
18:30 – Weightlifting Women’s 71kg (Gold Medal Event) – Joy Ogbonne Eze
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