Blessing Okagbare

Blessing Okagbare

Okagbare at heat 5 in the 200m of olympic game in Rio
Personal information
Born	(1988-09-10) September 10, 1988 (age 28) Sapele, Delta State, Nigeria
Height	1.8 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Country	Nigeria
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Long jump, sprints
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	100 m: 10.79 (London 2013) 200 m: 22.23 (Eugene 2014) Long Jump: 7.00 m (Monaco 2013)
Medal record Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Long jump World Championships 2013 Moscow Long jump 2013 Moscow 200 m Commonwealth Games 2014 Glasgow 100 m 2014 Glasgow 200 m 2014 Glasgow 4x100m All-Africa Games 2015 Brazzaville 4x100 m 2011 Maputo Long jump 2011 Maputo 100 m 2011 Maputo 4x100 m 2007 Algiers Long jump African Championships 2014 Marrakesh 100 m 2014 Marrakesh 4x100 m 2012 Benin 100 m 2010 Nairobi 100 m 2010 Nairobi Long jump 2010 Nairobi 4x100 m IAAF World Relays Nassau 2015 4x200m relay Continental Cup 2010 Split 100 m
Updated on 03 August 2016.

Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor (born 9 October 1988) is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specializes in long jumping and short sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump, and a world medallist in the 200 metres. She also holds the Women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds. Her 100 m best of 10.79 made her the African record holder for the event until it was eclipsed by Murielle Ahoure in 2016. She was the African 100 m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals at the All-Africa Games, IAAF Continental Cup and World Relays.

Okagbare was born in Sapele, Delta, in Nigeria. Given her athletic physique, teachers and family encouraged her to take up sports. Initially she played football as a teenager at her high school and later, in 2004, she began to take an interest in track and field. She participated in a number of disciplines early on, competing in the long jump, triple jump and high jump events at the Nigerian school championships and winning a medal in each. On the senior national stage, she was a triple jump bronze medallist 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.