Nigeria’s Tosin Oke soared to gold in the men’s Triple Jump ending a 44-year Gold medal drought for Nigeria in the event and Kenya completed its domination of the Commonwealth Games distance races on Tuesday in Delhi.
Oke, who used to jump for Britain, starting out with Cambridge Harriers achieved a jump of 17.16 metres in his second round attempt.
He narrowly beat Lucien Hugo Mamba-Schlick of Cameroon, who jumped a national record of 17.14 metres for silver and India’s Renjith Maheswary who got bronze with 17.07 metres to add the Commonwealth title to the African crown he won in July.
The 30-year-old became the first Gold medal winner for Nigeria in this event since Samuel Igun won in 1966. He has been trained by Guy Spencer and John Herbert, the coach of Phillips Idowu and Jade Johnson.
On winning the gold, Oke said: “It feels great. I am not surprised but it was closer than I thought. It is good to perform on the world stage. This is great for me. It is my first International title.”
And on the training camp he attended before the Commonwealth Games, he said it “helped me stay professional and focus on the job. I got it done”.
Culled from AthleticsAfrica.Com
