August 03, (THEWILL) – Nigeria’s Patience Okon-George was left out of contention for a place in the women’s 400m semi-final lineup of the ongoing Olympics in Tokyo, Japan as she was unable to reach any of the qualifying places in heat 1 of the event on Tuesday.
Okon-George finished a disappointing seventh of the seven athletes that entered the heat with a time of 52.41s. At the top of the competition was the Bahamas sprint champion Shaunae Miller-Uibo, who cruised to the finish line in a winning time of 50.5s.
Cuba’s Roxana Gomez finished in a second place time of 50.76s, while Sada Williams, the quarter-miler from Barbados, ran across the finish line in 51.36s to all qualify for the semifinals of the event.
Okon-George’s last place finish was another letdown for Team Nigeria and the country’s hopes for more track and field medals to add to the first one, Ese Brume’s long jump bronze, and shore up the country’s place on the medals table.
The athlete herself will feel the disappointment most after being unable to improve upon her participation in the 400 metres event at the 2015 World Championships in Athletics in Beijing, China and also at the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
Her best has only been at the African Championships where she is a two-time bronze medallist in the individual 400 metres event.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
