African Sports Monthly JUNE 2019 ISSUE I Vol 2 | Page 18

Divine Oduduru Resurrects Nigeria’s fortunes in
Track and Field on Easter Weekend
By Leslie Koroma Sr
As the world got ready to celebrate the
resurrection of The Lord Jesus Christ on
Easter Sunday (April 21st2019) Nigeria’s
Divine Oduduru of Texas Tech
University was on a divine mission of his
own to resurrect Nigeria’s fortunes in
Track and Field at the Michael Johnson
Invitational in Waco Texas on (Easter
Eve) Saturday April 20th2019.
The once dominant nation, which had
once ruled the roost for the Sprints in
Africa basically representing the
fortunes of the Continent globally, had
fallen on hard times with only a name to
brag about on the global stage in the last
decade in Blessing Okagbare.
Nigerian Track & Field was once the
Gold standard of excellence for Africa
battling the likes of Great Britain, the
USA and the dominant nations of the
Caribbean steadily holding their own
and shining at every level, but due to a
host of reason that many have blamed
on incompetence at the administrative
level and corruption the nation had
experienced a significant drought and
until April 20th2019 the onus only
rested on Blessing Okagbare to keep
flying the giant nation’s flag.
Then on a sunny afternoon in the sleepy
Central Texas town of Waco Texas; a
star that had been in the making at the
Collegiate level in Divine Oduduru
emerged from the shadows of giants
like Francis Obikwelu shattering his
almost 20 years old 200 meters record
clocking his race in 19.76 seconds
taking down Obikwelu’s mark of 19.84
seconds.
With that performance and a prior world leading time
in the indoor 200 meters Divine literally resurrected
Africa’s most populous nations fortunes as Christians
around the world got ready to celebrate the
Resurrection of the Lord Jesus on the very next day
(Easter Sunday).
Divine now joins the likes of Tobi Amusan; Nigeria’s
foremost Lady Sprint Hurdler and the perennial sprint
champion for over a decade Blessing Okagbare to give
the nation its best hopes at the World Athletics
Championships in Doha Qatar this Fall and the 2020
Olympic Games in Tokyo Japan.
Blessing
Okagbare