On Tuesday, Namibia and Nigeria claimed their places on the medal table thanks to the remarkable exploits of promising young stars Christine Mboma (200m) and Ese Brume (long jump). The athletes respectively delivered Namibia (silver) and Nigeria (bronze) their first medals of the Tokyo games.
The young Namibian sensation, Christine Mboma (18) who has only been competing in the 200m for two months, was outpaced by Jamaicain Elaine Thompson-Herah, who clinched the 200m Olympic title on Tuesday, thereby completing a sprint double three days after the 100m, as in Rio in 2016, with the second fastest time ever recorded (21:53). The bronze medal was taken by American Gabrielle Thomas.
After a very hesitant start, Mboma made a breath-taking comeback thanks to her devastating finishing speed.
It’s worth remembering that her compatriot, the famous sprinter Frankie Fredericks himself landed the silver medal over 100 and 200m at the Barcelona Olympics in 1992 and in 1996 in Atlanta.
Christine Mboma (18) grabbed the headlines on Monday when she finished in the fastest time across all seven heats, covering the distance in a stunning time of 22:11, thereby also setting a new junior world record (U20). This time beat the previous best set by American Sha'Carri Richardson in 2019 (22:17).
A matter of hours later, in the semi-finals, Christine Mboma beat her own record by setting another incredible time of 21:97. Lastly, in the final, she set yet another world junior record (U20) of 21:81.
The 200m final saw the involvement of two other African athletes, namely the Ivorian star Marie-Josee Ta Lou and the other Namibian, Beatrice Masilingi, who finished 5th and 6th respectively.
As for Nigerian athlete Ese Brume, she took the bronze medal in the long jump. With a leap of 6.97m, she finished behind German Malaika Mihambo, who became Olympic champion (7m), and American Brittney Reese (who also jumped 6.97m but had a longer 2nd best jump than Ese Brume).
As at the Doha 2019 World Championships, she will return with a bronze medal. This is Nigeria’s third podium finish in the women’s long jump after the gold collected by Chioma Ajunwa in 1996 in Atlanta and the silver of Blessing Okagbare at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Brume was the only Nigerian athlete to have reached the final of her event at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she finished fifth with a leap of 6.81m.
A bright future for the young generation
When asked about the impressive performances of Mboma and Brume, the Technical Director of the CAA, Aziz Daouda, expressed his “satisfaction and pride at the exploits of these young stars of African and international athletics across the two disciplines; a sign of bright future for the young generation”.
“Having three African athletes in the 200m final, winning a silver medal, itself worth its weight in gold, along with a junior world record, is an extraordinary and unprecedented achievement” he went on.
In the long jump, the Nigerian starlet stood out and maintained a tradition which has been well-established by her predecessors” commented Aziz Daouda.
In the men’s 1500m, seven African athletes qualified for the semi-finals, those being Kenyans Timothy Cheruiyot (3:36:01), Abel Kipsang (3:40:68) and Charles Cheboi Simotwo (3:37:26), Ethiopians Samuel Zeleke (3:41:63) and Teddese Lemi (3:36:26), Moroccan Abdelatif Sadiki (3:36:23) and Ayanleh Souleiman from Djibouti (3:37:25).
In the men’s triple jump, Hugues Fabrice Zango (16.83m) from Burkina Faso and the young Algerian Yasser Mohamed Triki (17.05m) also booked their places in the final.
Lining up for the men’s 5000m final, scheduled for 5th August, will be Ugandans Jacob Kiplimo, Joshua Cheptegei and Oscar Chelimo, Ethiopian Milkesa Mengesha and Kenyan Nicholas Kipkorir Kimeli.
The young Liberian Joseph Fahnbulleh (19) secured his qualification for the final of the 200m.
Africa’s Tokyo games medal tally now stands at ten, two of them gold (Ethiopia and Morocco), 4 silvers (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Namibia) and four bronze (Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda and Nigeria), after five days of athletics, the flagship Olympic discipline.
Mohamed Bencherif