Team Nigeria's aspirations for securing its inaugural medal at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games were thwarted on Tuesday evening due to underwhelming performances by Favour Ofili in the women's 200m final and Blessing Oborududu, who was defeated in her bronze medal match in the women's 68kg freestyle wrestling category.
Ofili finished sixth in the 200m final, clocking a time of
22.24 seconds, while the event was won by Gabby Thomas of the USA, who recorded
a time of 21.83 seconds.
Julie Alfred, the new champion of the women's 100m, secured
second place with a time of 22.08 seconds, and Brittany Brown, another American
athlete, completed the podium with a time of 22.20 seconds.
At 21 years of age, Ofili was unable to compensate for her
earlier disappointment in the 100m event, despite achieving a season-best time
of 22.05 seconds to qualify for the final on Monday.
She surpassed her previous time of 22.24 seconds, which she
had set during the heats on Sunday.
Notably, she is the first Nigerian woman to reach the
Olympic 200m final in 28 years, following Mary Onyali's achievement at the
Atlanta 1996 Games, where Onyali won a bronze medal.
Meanwhile, at the Champ de Mars arena, Oborududu faced a 3-0
defeat in her bronze medal match against Japan's Nonoka Ozaki.
Having previously secured a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020
Games, Oborududu experienced a narrow 3-1 loss to Kyrgyzstan's Meerim
Zhumanazarova in the semi-finals on Monday night.
With no medals yet at the Paris Games, Team Nigeria's hopes
now hinge on Tobi Amusan, the women's 100m hurdles record holder, who commences
her campaign today, alongside other athletes in athletics, weightlifting, and
wrestling.
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