Making of Champions

Just two months ago, the name Mark Jelks was largely unheard of in Nigeria, but that was before he arrived in Calabar for the National Athletics Championships in June. That was where Jelks announced his arrival as Nigeria’s new fastest man, as he completely dominated the field on his way to winning the highly coveted men’s 100 metres title. On that occasion, Jelks beat former Champions Ogho-Oghene Egwero and Obinna Metu in dominant fashion, as it became clear that over the next couple of years, he will likely be the athlete to beat as far as the men’s 100m on the home front is concerned!

In just a few days from now, Jelks will once more stand a strong chance of winning his first African title when the 19th African Senior Championships get underway in Marrakech, Morocco. The newly converted Nigerian athlete will take on his second assignment in the green and white colours, straight from the Commonwealth Games where he put up a commendable effort in his first outing for the world’s most populous black nation.

He won his 100m heat in 10.28s, beating the Commonwealth’s fastest man this year (Richard Thompson) in the process, and was eventually the only African representative in the final where he finished fifth in an SB of 10.13s. In the 4x100m heats, he even had the audacity to stare down the world’s fastest man himself, Usain Bolt, as they crossed the finish line together!

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That said, in terms of  times, Jelks comes to Morocco as the fifth on the African 100m list this season, behind South Africa’s duo of Simon Magakwe (9.98s) and Akani Simbine (10.02s), Gerald Phiri of Zambia (10.03s) and Zimbabwe’s Gabriel Mvumvure (10.07s). Despite their top spots in the rankings, neither of the South African pair qualified for the Commonwealth 100m final, as Magakwe could only manage 7th place in the semis, while Simbine placed 4th in the semis with 10.21s.

Can the Southern Africans bounce back at these African Championships, or will Jelks once again prove the man of the moment, and add the African crown to his Nigerian Title? It would certainly be an interesting story if Jelks wins, given the controversy that has followed the athletes that bloggers are popularly calling the “Naijamericans” since their switches of allegiances from Team USA to Nigeria. 

It would no doubt be of some significance if Jelks or one of his Nigerian teammates make the podium – as in the Commonwealth Games, Monzavous Edwards and Egwero are mostly likely to complete the trio for the individual 100 meteres. Despite Nigeria’s historical dominance of the sprints at the African Championships, no Nigerian has reached the podium in the 100 metres since the 2008 edition, when Olusoji Fasuba and Uchenna Emedolu were the GOLD and Silver medallists. Jelks is looking the most likely man to break that barren run in Marrakesh!

Men’s 100m Schedule: August 10th – Round 1 @ 10am, Semis @ 8.25pm, August 11th – Final @ 6.10pm.

(NB: This program is liable to change according to the number of participants and the local conditions)

Exactly a week ago this morning, Nigeria won it’s very first Athletics medal at the just concluded Commonwealth Games, a Bronze in the F42/44 Men’s Discus Throw by Richard Okigbazi. The F42 and F44 classifications are for Athletes with single leg amputations (above or below the knee respectively) or similar leg impairments. As the Commonwealth Games drew to a close yesterday for another 4 years, we felt  it important to shed more light on the amazing feat of Richard Okigbazi winning this Bronze medal, especially considering that it was ONE of only TWO medals Nigeria’s men won in Track & Field! Here is a fan-made clip of him throwing:

What makes his feat even more impressive is that, while most competitors in this category used their prosthetic legs to compete, Okigbazi threw balanced on just one leg, and as can be seen from the video above, throws his leg support away just before making the throw! One blogger even called it one of the most incredible sporting things they had ever seen! Okigbazi was able to generate enough power to launch the discuss an whopping 39.38 metres, which was enough to grab him the Bronze! When the F42 and F44 classes are combined, a points system was used to calculate the medal placements:

Having gotten to experience singing the National Anthem THREE times in a packed Hampden Park in Glasgow last week (for GOLD medals in women’s 100m, 200m and Long Jump), there is one certain line which resonated very well with onlookers in the crowd as we belted out each line with immense pride at being Nigerian: “The Labour of our heroes past shall never be in vain!” Let’s make sure that the labour of Richard Okigbazi in doing Nigeria proud at the Commonwealth Games, and the labour of all our Para-Athletes past and present shall never be in vain.

The Labours of our Para-Athletes must not be forgotten. Richard Okigbazi won BRONZE
by throwing 39.38 metres in the F42/44 Discus – THROWING ON JUST ONE LEG!
(Photo Credit: mitheringsfrommorningside.wordpress.com)

Nigeria’s Richard Okigbazi during the Men’s Para Sport Discus Throw F42/F44
(Photo Credit: AP Photo/Frank Augstein)

While our able-bodied athletes were not able to get a single medal at the London 2012 Olympics, our Paralympians won TWELVE medals in all – SIX GOLD, FIVE Silver & ONE Bronze, but they don’t get nearly as much praise or recognition for the feats they achieve in the face of great adversity. Let’s celebrate them and continue supporting them, financially and otherwise, to continue putting Nigeria on the map globally! Share this story with someone today, to inspire them to greatness despite whatever challenges they may face. CONGRATULATIONS Richard Okigbazi, COMMONWEALTH BRONZE MEDALLIST! Onwards and upwards to Rio!

(L-R) Silver medallist Aled Davies of Wales, GOLD medallist Dan Greaves of England and Bronze medallist Richard Okigbazi of Nigeria for F42/44 Discus at 2014 Commonwealth Games!
(Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty)

Silver: Aled Davies (Wales), GOLD; Dan Greaves (England), Bronze: Richard Okigbazi (Nigeria)
(Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty)

Here’s the full schedule of ALL Team Nigeria Athletes competing in Track & Field DAY FIVE (Thursday July 31st) at the Glasgow Commonwealth Games. You can catch this LIVE on SuperSports 4, OR follow Making of Champions’ LIVE TWEETS and POSTS throughout the day – stay tuned!

Women’s 200m semis

18.07pm: Heat 1 – Blessing Okagbare (NGR. No.1, C’wealth No.1) vs Jodie Williams (ENG, C’wealth No.4) and Anneisha McLaughlin (JAM, C’wealth No.6)

18.13pm: Heat 2 – Dominique Duncan (NGR, C’wealth No.10) vs Schllionie Calvert (JAM, C’wealth No. 13)

Women’s Long Jump 

19.15pm: Final – Ese Brume (NGR. No.1, C’wealth No.3) vs Shara Proctor (ENG, C’wealth No.2) and Christabel Netty (CAN, C’wealth No.4)

Men’s 400m Hurdles

20.15pm: Final – Chris Morton (NGR. No1, C’wealth No.13) vs Cornel Fredericks (RSA, C’wealth No.1) and Roxroy Cato (JAM, C’wealth No.2)

Women’s 400m Hurdles

20.25pm: Amaka Ogoegbunam (NGR. No.1, C’wealth No. 20) vs Kaliese Spencer (JAM, C’wealth No.1), Eilidh Child (SCO, C’wealth No.2) and Wenda Theron (RSA, C’wealth No.4) 

Women’s 200m final @ 20.45pm

Women’s 100m Hurdles Round 1 

21.35pm: Heat 1 – Ugonna Ndu (NGR No.2, C’wealth No.31) vs Indira Spence (JAM, Joint C’wealth No.6) and Kierre Beckles (BAR, Joint C’wealth No.6)

21.49pm: Heat 3 – Nicole Denby (NGR No.2, C’wealth No. 23) vs Sally Pearson (AUS, C’wealth No.1) and Monique Morgan (JAM, C’wealth No.4)

African sprint sensation, Blessing Okagbare comfortably led her heat in the women’s 200m to qualify for Thursday’s semi-finals, along with compatriot, Dominique Duncan whose race drew the curtain on Nigeria’s participation on Day 4 of track and field events at the Hampden Park Stadium in Glasgow, Scotland.

Okagbare looked supremely comfortable on Wednesday night, easing down some distance before the finish line to a time of 22.99s in Heat 1, leaving her competitors trailing in her wake. Duncan, representing Nigeria in an individual event for the first time, posted 23.89s in Heat 6 to place third behind Canada’s Kelly Hyacinthe (23.29) and Jade Bailey of Barbados (23.75).

Expectations are rife that Blessing is all but set to add the 200m title to the 100m won on Monday, when the final comes up on Thursday evening. She will first have qualify from in Heat 1 of the Semis at 6pm, while Duncan competes in Heat 2. Duncan has the fastest PB of 22.82 in her heat but will have to significantly improve on her first round time to be assured of a place in the final, as she faces Jamaica’s Schillonie Calvert (PB 22.88) who post the 3^rd fastest time of 23.14s in the heats.

Nigeria’s men did not fare as well in the 200m as the duo of Seye Ogunlewe and former 100m national champion, Obinna Metu crashed out in the heats earlier on Wednesday. 22-year old Ogunlewe finished in 4th in Heat 2, which was won by Lesotho’s Mosito Lehata in 20.68s, while the more experienced Metu also finished 4^th in Heat 10 in 21.19s. Nigeria’s 200m Champion Divine Oduduru wasn’t entered in the event, following his remarkable wind-aided 20.25s run to win Silver at the World Juniors in Oregon last week.

In the women’s long jump, Ese Brume’s leap of 6.29m in the qualifying round ensured her safe passage in 12^th place to Thursday’s final, where she will have to contend with England’s Shara Proctor and Canada’s Christabel Netty, 2nd and 4th respectively in the Commonwealth this year – Brume’s Season’s Best of 6.68m at the National Trials puts her as No.3. Brume’s performance in Glasgow so far is a huge improvement from the World Juniors last week, where she was able to record only one jump of 5.18m.

Nigeria’s No.1 in the men’s 400m hurdles Chris Morton qualified as one of the fastest losers in his heat to make Thursday’s final. He returned 49.62s in 3rd and has an outside chance of claiming a Bronze medal, with World Champion Jehue Gordon and South Africa’s Cornel Fredericks (No. 1 in C’wealth Rankings this year with 48.42s) the favourites for GOLD and Silver in the final! In the women’s category, national champion, Amaka Ogoegbunam will run in a strong field which includes World Leader Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica who has posted 53.41s this year, in comparison to the Nigeria’s No.1’s time of 56.77s.

Nigeria’s 400 women’s champion, Folashade Abugan was denied a place on the podium as the Jamaicans made a clean sweep of all the medals up for grabs in the 400m at the Commonwealth Games on Tuesday night, while Botswana’s Amantle Montsho who came to the Game as the defending champion was also denied a medal as she finished in 4th.

Abugan returned a time of 52.33s while the while newly crowned champion, Stephanie McPherson posted an impressive 50.67s, with compatriots Novlene Williams-Mills and Christine Day following with 50.86s and 51.09s respectively. Montsho just missed out on the Bronze, finishing in 51.10s.

In the men’s 110 Hurdles as Alex-Al-Ameen’s time of 13.77s couldn’t win him a medal as he finished in 7th. The 25-year old, who was the runner-up at the Nigerian Trials, had earlier qualified for the final as one of the fastest losers having placed 3rd in his heat behind eventual winner, Andrew Riley (13.47s) of Jamaica and Shane Brathwaite (13.54s) of Barbados. 2014 Nigerian Champion Tyrone Akins had crashed out in the heats earlier in the day, finishing in 4th with 13.75s while Nigeria No. 3 Martins Ogieriakhi who dominated the Domestic AFN Golden League this season finished in 6th in his heat in 14.13s.

Sean Obinwa competed in the First Round of the men’s 800m and also failed to qualify for the next stage as he finished 5th with a time of 1:50.59  in a heat that was won by South Africa’s Andre Olivier in 1:47.93s. In the men’s Long Jump Qualifying Round, the duo of Hamed Suleman and Samson Idiata could not sail through to the final as the former recorded No Jump while the latter made a leap of 7.57m which wasn’t adequate to see him through.

It wasn’t all doom and gloom though as national 400m Hurdles Champion, Amaka Ogoegbunam qualified as one of the fastest losers in the heats to secure a place in Thursday’s final. Ogoegunam who is making her debut to the Comonwealth Games, returned a time of 56.85s in Heat 3 behind Comonwealth No1, Kaliese Spencer (55.45s) and Australia’s Lauren Wells (55.79s).