Former African and Nigerian track Queen, who is also the Special Assistant on Technical Matters to the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Mary Onyali, has revealed that lack of sufficient time for Blessing Okagbare to recover from the final of the long jump before the 100m event was decided cost her and Nigeria a medal in the ongoing World Athletics Championship in Moscow, Russia.
Onyali, however, disclosed that Okagbare had since put behind her the disappointment of placing sixth in the women’s 100m event and now has at least two days to rest before the commencement of the 200m event in which she is also participating.
She said: “Blessing Okagbare was greatly disappointed about failing to win the 100m women in this 2013 World Athletics Championship in Moscow. We knew from the onset that the time between the final of the long jump, which was barely 24 hours, won’t be enough for her to recover from the rigorous battle she had to win the silver medal in the long jump.
“This invariably affected her performance in the final of the 100m race for the women. But she had since put that behind her and now fully concentrating on the task ahead, which is the 200m race. Thank God she has enough time between Monday that the final of the women’s 100m and Thursday that the race for the 200m would commence.
“Like I said, Blessing was determined to win the 100m since she had one of the best times in the world prior to the World Championship. But after the race, we all rallied behind her, talked to her and told her point blank that she has the quality to do Nigeria proud in the 200m and so she should put what happened behind her and concentrate on the task ahead.
“She was happy after that and only this (Tuesday) morning when I saw her she was radiant and happy also brimming with smiles. This is good for her and the country because she needs to be in a very good frame of mind to be able to compete well in the race. The chance of winning the 200m race is now brighter because she has at least two days to rest and prepare well for the rest of her events.”
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