Olympics: Okagbare cruises to semi-finals, Nwokocha runs PB, CIV’s Ta Lou equals African record

BLESSING Okagbare shrugged off the controversy surrounding the Nigerian athletics team at the Tokyo Olympics by easing to the semi-finals of the women’s 100m on Friday.

The sprints star had on Thursday expressed her frustration at Nigerian officials after their failure to oversee enough doping tests led to the disqualification of 10 of her teammates from the Games.

However, she was fully focused on Friday on the first day of athletics at the Games, easing to her third consecutive Olympics semi-final in the 100m by winning her heat in 11.05 seconds in a race she dominated.

She eased off in the last 20m upon realising that nobody was going to catch up with her.

Okagbare’s compatriot Grace Nwokocha, who is attending her first Olympics, also qualified for the semi-finals, running her personal best in the process.

The 20-year-old National Sports Festival gold medallist returned a time of 11.00 seconds to improve on her previous personal best of 11.09s.
Nwokocha finished third in Heat 5, behind Jamaican star Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce (10.84s) and Switzerland’s Ajla Del Ponte (10 91s, new national record).

Also on Friday morning in Tokyo, Cote d’Ivoire’s Marie Josee Ta Lou equalled the women’s 100m African record of 9.78s as she won her heat in impressive fashion.

The Ivorian’s time was also the fastest in all the heats on Friday and the fastest time ever returned in an Olympics at this stage of the women’s 100m.

Rio 2016 gold medallist Elaine Thompson-Herah returned the second fastest time in the heats, coasting to 10.82s to win her race.

Munjinga Kambundji came second in 9.95s to equal the Swiss national record, which Del Ponte broke not long after.

The semi-final line-up was drawn moments after the conclusion of the heats, with Okagbare placed in the first race along with Thompson-Herah and Britain’s Dina Asher-Smith.

Nwokocha will run in the third semi-final, contending with Fraser-Pryce, Cote d’Ivoire’s Muriel Ahoure and Great Britain’s Daryl Neita for the two automatic final spots.

The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday.