Thursday, August 8 was a day to quickly forget as Team Nigeria recorded a series of poor and unexpected results and performances at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, culminating in Ese Brume’s failure to secure a medal in the women’s long jump event.
Expectations were high among Nigerians ahead of the day as at least one medal is guaranteed for Nigeria with Ese Brume the best prospect, though of any colour after winning, she won the bronze medal in the event four years ago in Tokyo, between consecutive podium finishes at the World Athletics Championships in Doha (2019) and Eugene (2022).
Unfortunately, she started slowly that night; she had the best jump of the night, covering a distance of just 6.70m and finished in fifth position as the best Nigeria