–Okagbare reveals athletes picked team for race
Team Nigeria emerged the surprise victors in the women’s 4x200m relay final in the early hours of Sunday in Nassau,Bahamas at the second IAAF World Relays.
Like they did in 2008 at the Beijing Olympics,the team,led by Blessing Okagbare won a fortuitous gold medal following the misfortune of guaranteed
winners,USA and closest rival,Jamaica.
Pre-event favourites USA looked to be on course to successfully defend their title from last year, after Shalonda Solomon, Kimberlyn Duncan and Jeneba Tarmoh
had built up a comfortable lead on the first three legs.
But then disaster struck on the final changeover between Tarmoh and Allyson Felix.Felix couldn’t quite get a solid grip on the baton as Tarmoh then bumped
into her before she fell to the ground, their medal hopes dashed.
The same misfortune befell Jamaica at the second exchange and the host nation as their second changeover was well outside of the zone. The Bahamas carried on
and eventually crossed the line in second place, but they were soon disqualified.
These catalogue of woes gave Nigeria the gold,winning in a world leading 1:30.52 to take two seconds off the national record they set late last month at the
Penn Relays.Okagbare led the team off before the baton was passed to Regina George, Dominique Duncan and Christy Udoh.
Jamaica finished a distant second in 1:31.73, one-and-a-half seconds slower than their time from last year, but one place higher on the podium.
Germany were third in 1:33.61 while China set an Asian record of 1:34.89 in fourth.
Meanwhile Okagbare has revealed that the athletes picked the team who raced to glory on Sunday as well as the legs they ran.
‘For the first time, we the athletes made some decisions as a team to choose who can deliver and deserves to run this race since the officials are very good
at messing up things and yes, we did it. Sometimes it’s not about what they want but, our feelings and opinions should be taken into consideration. I am
really thankful to God everything worked out to the glory of His name because, we weren’t the best team out there but we came to win regardless,’she wrote on
her Facebook wall and congratulated the ladies who ran with her.
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