Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri (born 9 October 1988) is a former Nigerian

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who specialized in

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

and sprints. She is an Olympic and

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

. Okagbare also holds the women's

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple

World Athletics World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...

anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032. Her 100 m best of 10.79 made her the African record holder for the event until it was eclipsed by Murielle Ahouré in 2016. On June 17, 2021, Okagbare ran a wind-aided 10.63 100 m. She was the African record holder over the 200 m with a time of 22.04 seconds in 2018, thus making her the second-fastest African female athlete over the distance behind Christine Mboma, who ran an African record of 21.78 s in 2021. Okagbare was the African 100 m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals at the

All-Africa Games The African Games, formally known as the All-Africa Games or the Pan African Games, are a continental multi-sport event held every four years, organized by the African Union with the Association of National Olympic Committees of Africa and the ...

IAAF Continental Cup The IAAF Continental Cup was an international track and field competition organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). The event was proposed by IAAF former President Primo Nebiolo and was first held in 1977 as ...

and World Relays. Okagbare was suspended after failing a drugs test on 31 July 2021 during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. On 18 February 2022 it was announced that she had been banned from athletics for a period of 10 years commencing 30 July 2021 for multiple breaches of

Anti-Doping rules. Following a hearing at the Athletics Integrity Unit that found her to have taken both

human growth hormone Growth hormone (GH) or somatotropin, also known as human growth hormone (hGH or HGH) in its human form, is a peptide hormone that stimulates growth, cell reproduction, and cell regeneration in humans and other animals. It is thus important in ...

and EPO over an extended period, and to have failed to cooperate with the investigation, Okagbare was banned for ten years, effectively ending her athletics career in disgrace. On 23 June 2022, the AIU announced that Okagbare's ban had been extended by a year for further anti-doping offences.

Career

Early life

Of Urhobo heritage, Okagbare was born in

Sapele, Delta Sapele is a primary town and one of the Local Government Areas of Delta State (Nigeria), Delta State, Nigeria. Sapele city '' əpā´lē' (1991 est. pop. 123,000) is a port in the Niger Delta region of Southern Nigeria along the Ethiope ...

, in Nigeria. Given her athletic physique, teachers and family encouraged her to take up sports. Initially, she played

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

as a teenager at her high school and later, in 2004, she began to take an interest in

. She participated in several disciplines early on, competing in the

triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

and

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

events at the Nigerian school championships and winning a medal in each. On the senior national stage, she was a triple jump bronze medalist at the 2004 Nigerian National Sports Festival. Okagbare's first international outing came at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, where she performed in the qualifying rounds of both the long and triple jump competitions. In May 2007, at the All-Africa Games trials in

Lagos Lagos ( ; ), or Lagos City, is a large metropolitan city in southwestern Nigeria. With an upper population estimated above 21 million dwellers, it is the largest city in Nigeria, the most populous urban area on the African continent, and on ...

, she established a Nigerian record of 14.13 meters in the triple jump. At the

2007 All-Africa Games The 9th All-Africa Games (; ), also known as Algiers 2007 (), took place from 11 to 23 July 2007 in Algiers, the capital city of Algeria. Algiers became the first city to hold All-Africa Games for a second time. The 1978 All-Africa Games were a ...

she won the silver medal in the long jump and finished fourth in the triple jump. In the latter competition her Nigerian record was beaten by Chinonye Ohadugha, who jumped 14.21 meters.

Olympic and African medals

As a 19-year-old, she won a silver medal in the women's long jump event at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She was selected to compete at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

but did not start either the 100 m or long jump. Okagbare scored a 100 m/long jump double at the NCAA Women's Outdoor Track and Field Championship for

University of Texas at El Paso The University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) is a public university, public research university in El Paso, Texas, United States. Founded in 1913 as the State School of Mines and Metallurgy, it is the third oldest academic component of the Univers ...

, completing an undefeated collegiate streak for the UTEP Miners that year. She won the Nigerian 100 m title in 2010, running a time of 11.04 seconds, and stated that she was opting out of the long jump in order to save herself for the upcoming African championships. At the

African Championships An African Championship is a top level international sports competition between Africa, African athletes or sports teams representing their respective countries or professional sports club, sports clubs. List of championships ;Athletics * African ...

in 2010, she won gold in the long jump again with a distance of 6.62 m while her compatriot Comfort Onyali took silver. Okagbare also won gold in the 100 m distance with a run of 11.03 s flat, while Gabon's Ruddy Zang Milama and compatriot Oludamola Osayomi won silver and bronze with runs of 11.15 s and 11.22 s respectively. She won her third gold at the end of the championship as part of the Nigerian 4×100 m women's relay team. The team of Okagbare, Osayomi, Lawretta Ozoh and Agnes Osazuwa set a new championship record with a run of 43.43 s, more than a full second ahead of the silver-winning Cameroonian quartet. In 2011, Okagbare continued to build on her earlier endeavours by establishing herself as a 100 m runner. At the 2011 World Championships in

Daegu Daegu (; ), formerly spelled Taegu and officially Daegu Metropolitan City (), is a city in southeastern South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; the fourth-largest List of provincial-level ci ...

, Okagbare placed fifth in the 100 m final with a run of 11.12 s. However, she did not make it to the final of the long jump as her best jump of 6.36 m was not enough to get her out of her qualifying group. She concluded her 2011 season by winning three medals at the All Africa Games in

Maputo Maputo () is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a population of 1,088,449 (as of 2017) distributed ov ...

, Mozambique. She won silver in the 100 m behind compatriot Oludamola Osayomi with a run of 11.01 s and gold in the long jump with a jump of 6.50 m. She was part of the Nigerian quartet that won gold in the 4 × 100 m with a time of 43.34. 2012 was a busy year for Okagbare. She jumped 6.97 m in the long jump in

Calabar Calabar (also referred to as Callabar, Calabari, Calbari, Cali and Kalabar) is the capital city of Cross River State, Nigeria. It was originally named Akwa Akpa, in the Efik language, as the Efik people dominate this area. The city is adjac ...

during the Nigerian championship. She won new continental medals at the 2012 African Championships in

Porto-Novo , , ; ; ; also known as Hogbonu and Ajashe) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities in Benin, second-largest city of Benin. The commune covers an area of and as of 2002 had a population of 223,552 people. In 1863, following Bri ...

. In the 100 m, she was beaten to silver by Zang Milama, while in the long jump, she claimed gold with a jump of 6.96 m.

London 2012 and 2013 World Championships

London 2012 The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Okagbare participated in her second Olympic Games. Going into the Olympics, she had run several fast 100 m races, and there was much anticipation and hope of a medal. However, the 2012 Olympics were not as successful for Okagbare as her 2008 outing. She established a new personal best of 10.92 s in the 100 m semi-final but placed eighth in the final with a run of 11.01 s. 2013 would prove to be a breakthrough year for Okagbare. In April 2013, in Walnut, California, Blessing Okagbare set a personal record in the 200 m with a time of 22.31 s. Then, in July, she improved her personal best in the long jump with successive jumps of 6.98 m at the Athletissima meet in

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

and 7.00 m during the Monaco Herculis meet. On 27 July 2013, at the London Anniversary Games, Okagbare set a new African record of 10.86 s in her 100 m race. She won the final about an hour later, setting a new African record of 10.79, in a race where she beat reigning 100 m Olympic gold medalist

Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (''née'' Fraser; born December 27, 1986) is a Jamaican track and field Sprint (running), sprinter competing in the 60 metres, 60 metres, 100 metres, 100 m and 200 metres, 200 m. She is widely regarded as ...

. Okagbare's record eclipsed the existing record by compatriot Glory Alozie of 10.90 s, which had stood since 1998. At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Okagbare won the silver medal in the long jump. Her jump of 6.99 m put her in second place behind

Brittney Reese Brittney Davon Reese (born September 9, 1986) is a retired American long jumper, Olympic gold medalist, and a seven-time world champion. Reese is the indoor American record holder in the long jump with a distance of 7.23 meters. Personal life Bo ...

of the United States by only two centimeters. In the 100 m final, she placed sixth with a run of 11.04 s and also placed third in the 200 m race.

2014 Commonwealth Games

Okagbare participated in both the 100m and 200m races. She made it through to the finals of the 100m and won with a time of 10.85 seconds, breaking the games record of 10.91 seconds set by Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie 12 years earlier at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

in Manchester. Okagbare also won the gold medal in the 200, with a time of 22.25 seconds. In doing so, she became the fourth woman to win the 100m and 200m double at the Commonwealth Games.

2015 World Relays and African Games

She ran the lead-off leg in the 4 × 200 m at the 2015 World Relays. The team consisting of Okagbare, Regina George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh won the race and set an African Record in the process. She did not appear in the 200 meters at the IAAF World Championships or the All Africa Games due to a hamstring injury she sustained while finishing last in the final of the 100 meters at the World Championships. At the end of the season, she did participate in the IAAF Diamond League meet, the Weltklasse Zürich in Zurich, finishing second in the 100 meters. The Director General of Nigeria's National Sports Commission Al Hassan Yakmu was angered by the perceived snub: It was initially reported that Okagbare was banned from representing Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics. The Athletics Federation of Nigeria eventually refuted the claim. Though she opted out of the individual events at the All-Africa Games, she did run in the 4 × 100 m relay and help the Nigerian team ( Cecilia Francis, Okagbare, Ngozi Onwumere and Lawretta Ozoh) secure the gold medal.

2016 Rio Olympics

Blessing had a disappointing show at the 2016 Rio Olympics, as she finished without a single medal. She never made it to the final but was ranked 3rd in the 100m semifinal finishing at 11.09s, and ranked 8th with her teammates in the final of the 4 × 100 m relay.

2020 Tokyo Olympics

Okagbare won her first round heat in the

with a time of 11.05. She was subsequently suspended on 31 July 2021 after failing a drug test taken on 19 July 2021, which tested positive for

2022 Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) ban

On 18 February 2022, the AIU announced that Okagbare had been given a 10-year ban for “multiple breaches of anti-doping rules”. The athletics body said Okagbare was banned for five years for the use of multiple prohibited substances and another five years for not cooperating with the investigation.

Personal life

In September 2014, she married Nigerian footballer Igho Otegheri.

Statistics

Personal bests

:* 60 metres – 7.10 ( Fayetteville, AR 2021) *

– 10.79 (+1.1 m/s,

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

2013) *

– 22.04 ( Abilene, TX 2018) *

Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

– (

Monaco Monaco, officially the Principality of Monaco, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

2013) *

Triple jump The triple jump, sometimes referred to as the hop, step and jump or the hop, skip and jump, is a track and field event, similar to long jump. As a group, the two events are referred to as the "horizontal jumps". The competitor runs down the tr ...

– (

2007) Her mark of 14.13 m in the triple jump is the African under-20 record. Her best of 10.79 in the 100 m was the African senior record from 27 July 2013 to 11 June 2016, when it was beaten by Ivorian athlete Murielle Ahouré.Blessing Okagbare shatters Mary Onyali’s 22-year old 200m African Record in Texas
Athletics Africa (2016-03-26). Retrieved 2018-05-21.

International competitions

¹Disqualified in the semifinal

Circuit wins

;100 m * Meeting Sport Solidarietà: 2010 *

London Grand Prix The London Athletics Meet, formerly known as the London Grand Prix and subsequently as the Anniversary Games and London Diamond League, is an annual athletics event held in London, England. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix even ...

: 2012, 2013 * Herculis: 2012 * IAAF World Challenge Beijing: 2013 * Jamaica International Invitational: 2014 * Shanghai Golden Grand Prix: 2015 * Meeting de Atletismo Madrid: 2016 * Gyulai István Memorial: 2016, 2017 * Marseille Meeting International: 2017 *

Hanžeković Memorial Hanžeković Memorial (), known also as Zagreb Meeting and Hanžek (hypocorism of the surname ''Hanžeković''), is an annual three-day Athletics (sport), athletics event held first weekend of September at three different locations in Zagreb, Cro ...

: 2017 * Texas Relays: 2018 ;200 m * Mt. SAC Relays: 2013 *

British Grand Prix The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor racing event organised in the United Kingdom by Motorsport UK. First held by the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) in 1926 British Grand Prix, 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 ...

: 2013 * Shanghai Golden Grand Prix: 2014 * Meeting Areva: 2014 * Michael Johnson Classic: 2016 * Folksam Grand Prix: 2016 * KBC Night of Athletics: 2016 ;Long jump * Gyulai István Memorial: 2011 * Athletissima: 2013 * Herculis: 2013 * Shanghai Golden Grand Prix: 2014

National and NCAA titles

* Nigerian Athletics Championships **

: 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2016 **

: 2013, 2014, 2016 **

: 2007, 2008, 2009, 2011, 2012, 2013 **

: 2007, 2008 * NCAA Women's Division I Outdoor Track and Field Championships **

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

* NCAA Women's Division I Indoor Track and Field Championships ** 60 metres: 2010

Seasonal bests

References

External links