Okagbare: Tears stop, training begins

WEEPING AND WAILING AND MOURNING AND
GNASHING OF TEETH was a popular track by
the Mighty Diamonds in the 1980s. The title
of the Mighty Diamond’s album is Right Time
That song captured the mood of Nigerians here
after the 100m final in the ongoing 14th
edition of the World Championships on
Monday night.
Blessing Okagbare, the brightest Nigerian
athlete for now has been the face of the
Nigerian sports from the Beijing Olympics in
2008 to the last games in London and to the
ongoing World Championships. She shoulders
the weight of the country and when she failed
in London, it amounted to Nigeria’s failure.
BAD for a country of 160 million.
Okagbare
She wiped away the London sorrow with a
silver medal here in the Long Jump but badly
wanted a great show in the 100m, the more
glamorous event.
She ran good races before the Moscow games,
even beating Olympic champion Shelly Ann
Fraser Pryce in London three weeks ago and
setting African record in the process. She ran
10.79 seconds.
But on Monday she could not re-enact her
pre-games effort in the 100m and dropped to
the 6th position. Nigerians at home gnashed
their teeth, officials and coaches here
mourned and Blessing simply anchored the
sorrow by some pathetic weeping and wailing
that touched everybody here.
It was a night of disappointment, anger,
frustration, regret and pity, a paradox of some
sort. Blessing cried all night. But so
determined to make Nigeria proud, she went
back to train about four hours after the 100m
disappointment.
She trained at night and that amazed all
officials including the sports minister, Bolaji
Abdullahi who appears overwhelmed by her
patriotism and determination to win more
medals for Nigeria. However, after training,
Blessing continued weeping. But the good
news now is that she has stopped crying and
training strongly to make a good show in the
200m that starts on Thursday.
“Blessing has stopped crying,” Ogba said
yesterday evening. “It was good she cried out
her feelings. She is in good shape and things
will unfold. God gave us and we need to be
grateful and thank Him for that achievement.
The Long Jump affected her but now she is
back,” Ogba said.
And now that Blessing has stopped crying, it is
perhaps the right time to wipe away the
disappointment of the 100m with another
medal in the 200m.
Two medals in one World Championships will
be a record in Nigeria and a performance that
will make her celebrate and dance like the
queen  the group, Abba described in their
song DANCING QUEEN. Yes, Blessing’s dance
steps may produce the sound louder than her
wailing. Another medal can create that.