Early Life, Career, Stats, Family & Net Worth

Blessing Okagbare (born 9 October 1988) is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump and sprints. She has won Olympic and World Championship medals in the long jump, as well as a world medal in the 200 metres.

Okagbare also holds the Commonwealth Games record for the women’s 100 metres, which is 10.85 seconds. Her 100-metre best of 10.79 made her the African record holder until it was surpassed by Murielle Ahouré in 2016. On June 17, 2021, Okagbare ran a wind-aided 10.63 in 100 metres.

She set the African record for the 200 m in 2018 with a time of 22.04 seconds, making her the second-fastest African female athlete over the distance after Christine Mboma, who ran 21.78 seconds in 2021. Okagbare was the African 100 m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals in the All-Africa Games, the IAAF Continental Cup, and the World Relays.

Okagbare received an eleven-year competition suspension in 2022, retroactive to July 2021, for violating various anti-doping rules.

Blessing Okagbare Biography

Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri was born in Sapele, Delta State, Nigeria. Given her athletic build, teachers and relatives pushed her to participate in sports. She began playing football as a teenager in high school, and then in 2004, she became interested in track and field.

She competed in a variety of sports early on, winning medals in the long jump, triple jump, and high jump events at the Nigerian School Championships. She won a bronze medal in the triple jump at the 2004 Nigerian National Sports Festival.

Okagbare’s maiden international outing occurred at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, when she performed in the qualifying stages of both the long and triple jump disciplines.

Career

At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, she earned a silver medal in the women’s long jump event when only 19 years old. She was chosen to compete in the 2009 World Athletics Championships, but she did not start either the 100 m or the long jump.

Okagbare won a 100 m/long jump double in the NCAA Women’s Outdoor Track and Field Championship for the University of Texas at El Paso, capping the Miners’ unbeaten season that year. She won the Nigerian 100 metres title in 2010, clocking 11.04 seconds, and indicated that she was withdrawing from the long jump to save herself for the next African championships.

At the 2010 African Championships, she won gold in the long jump with a distance of 6.62 m, while her compatriot Comfort Onyali earned silver. Okagbare also won gold in the 100 metres with a flat time of 11.03 seconds, while Gabon’s Ruddy Zang Milama and compatriot Oludamola Osayomi took silver and bronze with times of 11.15 seconds and 11.22 seconds, respectively.

At the end of the championship, she earned her third gold medal with the Nigerian 4×100 m women’s relay team. The trio of Okagbare, Osayomi, Lawretta Ozoh, and Agnes Osazuwa set a new championship record of 43.43 seconds, finishing more than a full second clear of the Cameroonian quartet that won silver.

In 2011, Okagbare expanded on her previous achievements by establishing herself as a 100 m runner. Okagbare finished sixth in the 100-metre final at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, clocking 11.12 seconds. However, she did not go to the final of the long jump because her best jump of 6.36 m was insufficient to move her out of her qualifying group.

She wrapped up her 2011 season by capturing three medals at the All-Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique. She finished second in the 100 m behind compatriot Oludamola Osayomi with a time of 11.01 seconds and won gold in the long jump with a distance of 6.50 metres. She was a member of the Nigerian quartet that won gold in the 4 x 100 m with a time of 43.34.

2012 was an eventful year for Okagbare. She jumped 6.97 metres in the long jump at the Nigerian championships in Calabar. She won new continental medals at the 2012 African Championships in Porto Novo. Zang Milama defeated her to silver in the 100 metres, but she won gold in the long jump with a leap of 6.96 metres.

Okagbare competed in her second Olympics, in London in 2012. She had raced several quick 100-metre events leading up to the Olympics, so there was a lot of excitement and hope for a medal. However, Okagbare’s performance at the 2012 Olympics was not as successful as it was in 2008. She set a new personal best of 10.92 seconds in the 100 metre semi-final but finished eighth in the final with a time of 11.01 seconds.

2013 would be Okagbare’s breakthrough year. Blessing Okagbare ran a personal best of 22.31 seconds in the 200 metres at Walnut, California, in April 2013. In July, she improved her personal best in the long jump with consecutive jumps of 6.98 m in the Athletissima meet in Lausanne and 7.00 m at the Monaco Herculis meet.

At the London Anniversary Games on 27 July 2013, Okagbare set a new African mark of 10.86 seconds in the 100 metre race. She won the final approximately an hour later, setting a new African record of 10.79 in a race that saw her defeat reigning 100-metre Olympic gold medallist Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce.

Okagbare’s time surpassed the previous mark set by compatriot Glory Alozie of 10.90 seconds, which had stood since 1998.

At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, Okagbare won silver in the long jump. Her leap of 6.99 m placed her second, trailing Brittney Reese of the United States by only two centimetres. She finished sixth in the 100-meter final with a time of 11.04 seconds and third in the 200-meter race.

Okagbare competed in both the 100 and 200 metre events. She advanced to the 100m finals and won in 10.85 seconds, beating Debbie Ferguson-McKenzie’s 12-year-old Commonwealth Games record of 10.91 seconds set in Manchester in 2002. Okagbare also won the gold medal in the 200 metres with a time of 22.25 seconds. She became the fourth woman to win both the 100m and 200m at the Commonwealth Games.

She raced the lead-off leg in the 4 × 200 m at the 2015 World Relays. Okagbare, Regina George, Dominique Duncan, and Christy Udoh won the race, setting an African record in the process. She did not compete in the 200 metres at the IAAF World Championships or the All-Africa Games due to a hamstring injury acquired while finishing last in the 100-metre final at the World Championships. At the end of the season, she competed in the IAAF Diamond League meet, the Weltklasse Zürich in Zurich, coming second in the 100 metres.

It was previously claimed that Okagbare had been barred from representing Nigeria at the 2016 Olympics. The Athletics Federation of Nigeria eventually rejected the claim. Although she did not compete in the individual events at the All-Africa Games, she participated in the 4 × 100 m relay and helped the Nigerian team (Cecilia Francis, Okagbare, Ngozi Onwumere, and Lawretta Ozoh) win gold.

Blessing had a dismal performance at the 2016 Rio Olympics, finishing without a single medal. Although she did not advance to the final, she placed third in the 100m semifinal with a time of 11.09 seconds and eighth in the 4 × 100 m relay final.

Okagbare won her first round heat in the 100m with a time of 11.05. She was suspended on July 31, 2021, after failing a drug test on July 19, 2021, which revealed a positive result for human growth hormone. Okagbare was granted a ten-year suspension by the Athletics Integrity Unit in February 2022, retroactive to July 2021, for the presence and usage of several banned substances (five years), which was doubled owing to her reluctance to participate in the inquiry. Her ban was extended to 11 years in June 2022 when she violated additional anti-doping rules.

Statistics

60 metres – 7.10 (Fayetteville, AR 2021)
100 metres – 10.79 (+1.1 m/s, London 2013) NR
200 metres – 22.04 (Abilene, TX 2018)
Long jump – 7.00 m (22 ft 11+1⁄2 in) (Monaco 2013)
Triple jump – 14.13 m (46 ft 4+1⁄4 in) (Lagos 2007) AU20R

Is Blessing Okagbare married?

Blessing Okagbare is a quiet person; however, it is known that she is married to her husband, former Nigerian footballer Igho Otegheri, whom she met in 2009 and married in 2010. The couple has two children, a boy and a girl, and they prioritise family time despite their hectic schedules.

Okagbare thanks her husband for his continuous support and encouragement throughout her career, and the entire family frequently visits her competitions to cheer her on from the stands. Despite her celebrity, Okagbare prioritises her family life and seeks to strike a balance between her professional and personal obligations. You may find her on social media.

Blessing Okagbare Net Worth

Blessing Okagbare’s net worth is estimated to be around $1.5 million, accumulated through her successful career in track and field as a renowned sprinter, winning numerous medals and accolades, including Olympic and World Championship medals, and earning through endorsement deals and sponsorships with top brands, as well as ventures as a model, gracing the cover of prestigious magazines like Vogue Italia, solidifying her status as one of Nigeria’s most successful and marketable athletes.