Blessing Oborodudu with her Tokyo Olympics silver medal in wrestling
Nigeria ends Tokyo Olympics with 2 medals, finishes 7th best in Africa
Nigeria has ended its Tokyo Olympics campaign with two medals, 1 Silver and 1 Bronze medals, as the country’s hope for more medals, wrestler Adijat Idris lost out to Ukraine’s Oksana Livach in the quarter-final of the 50kg women’s freestyle event, Friday.
The two medals secured came from Blessing Oborududu and Ese Brume.
Brume won a bronze medal in the women’s long jump event, while Oborududu clinched silver in the women’s freestyle 68kg wrestling category.
Oborududu, the 10-time African champion, also became the first Nigerian to win a medal in wrestling on the biggest sports competition in the world.
Nigeria’s campaign at Tokyo was not without its controversies and ill lucks.
Despite making it to the 100m sprint event courtesy of Enoch Adegoke’s 10.00secs feat which also broke a 25-year jinx since Davidson Ezinwa’s 1996 Atlanta Olympics record, the runner copped an injury in the final race to lose out on any medal hopes.
Also, shot-putter Chukwuebuka Enekwechi made it to the final stage pf the event but ended 12th.
So far, Kenya leads the African challenge as the East African nation topped the continent’s medal haul with five medals comprising; 1 Gold, 2 Silver, 2 Bronze and ahead of South Africa, Ethiopia and Uganda with three medals each, and Tunisia as well as Morocco all with 1 Gold plus 1 Silver, and 1 Gold, respectively.
Nigeria follows in 7th position as it led other countries like Namibia, Egypt, Burkina Faso, Ghana and Ivory Coast in that order on the medals table.
It must be said that overall it was a poor outing for Africa’s contingent, especially for the East Africans who had previously recorded great showings in the long distance track events
Gold Silver Bronze Total
China 34 24 16 74
United States 29 35 27 91
Japan 22 10 14 46
Australia 17 5 19 41
Russian Olympic Committee 16 22 20 58
Great Britain 16 18 17 51
Germany 9 9 16 34
France 7 11 9 27
Italy 7 10 18 35
Netherlands 7 9 10 26
New Zealand 7 6 6 19
South Korea 6 4 9 19
Hungary 5 7 3 15
Canada 5 5 8 18
Cuba 5 3 4 12
Brazil 4 4 8 16
Czech Republic 4 3 2 9
Spain 3 4 5 12
Switzerland 3 4 5 12
Poland 3 3 4 10
Croatia 3 3 2 8
Jamaica 3 1 3 7
Belgium 3 1 1 5
Sweden 2 5 0 7
Taiwan 2 4 6 12
Georgia 2 4 1 7
Denmark 2 2 4 8
Iran 2 2 1 5
Norway 2 2 1 5
Slovenia 2 1 1 4
Ecuador 2 1 0 3
Greece 2 0 1 3
Uzbekistan 2 0 1 3
Kosovo 2 0 0 2
Qatar 2 0 0 2
Ukraine 1 3 9 13
Romania 1 3 0 4
Venezuela 1 3 0 4
Hong Kong 1 2 2 5
Kenya 1 2 2 5
Slovakia 1 2 0 3
South Africa 1 2 0 3
Austria 1 1 5 7
Turkey 1 1 5 7
Serbia 1 1 4 6
Indonesia 1 1 3 5
Bulgaria 1 1 2 4
Portugal 1 1 2 4
Belarus 1 1 1 3
Ethiopia 1 1 1 3
Philippines 1 1 1 3
Uganda 1 1 1 3
Tunisia 1 1 0 2
Ireland 1 0 2 3
Israel 1 0 2 3
Estonia 1 0 1 2
Fiji 1 0 1 2
Latvia 1 0 1 2
Thailand 1 0 1 2
Bahamas 1 0 0 1
Bermuda 1 0 0 1
Morocco 1 0 0 1
Puerto Rico 1 0 0 1
Colombia 0 3 1 4
India 0 2 3 5
Armenia 0 2 1 3
Dominican Republic 0 2 1 3
Kirghyzstan 0 2 1 3
Mongolia 0 1 2 3
San Marino 0 1 2 3
Jordan 0 1 1 2
Nigeria 0 1 1 2
Namibia 0 1 0 1
North Macedonia 0 1 0 1
Turkmenistan 0 1 0 1
Kazakhstan 0 0 7 7
Azerbaijan 0 0 3 3
Egypt 0 0 3 3
Mexico 0 0 3 3
Finland 0 0 2 2
Argentina 0 0 1 1
Burkina 0 0 1 1
Ghana 0 0 1 1
Grenada 0 0 1 1
Ivory Coast 0 0 1 1
Kuwait 0 0 1 1
Malaysia 0 0 1 1
Syria 0 0 1 1
