Blessing Okagbare
Blessing Okagbare 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 Womens 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds. Her 100160m best of 10.79 makes her the African record holder for the event. She was the African 100160m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals at the AllAfrica Games and the IAAF Continental Cup.
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. Okagbares 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.
Source: Wikipedia