Nigerian Olympic wrestler
Blessing Oborududu
Photo of Blessing Oborududu at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Born (1989-03-12 ) 12 March 1989 (age 35) Country Nigeria Sport Amateur wrestling Event Freestyle
Blessing Oborududu (born 12 March 1989, in Gbanranu ) is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler .[ 1] She is currently ranked as the world number two woman wrestler and also the first wrestler to win an Olympic medal representing Nigeria at the Olympics.[ 2] [ 3] She is also a twelve-time African champion from 2010 to 2023.
Oborududu was invited to a national camp in 2007 to take part at the African Games after noticing her impressive performances at school inter-house wrestling competitions.[ 4] [ 5] Her parents were initially against her ambition to become a sport wrestler and advised her that wrestling is allocated only for boys. She idolised Canadian-Nigerian wrestler Daniel Igali who was originally regarded as the first person from Nigeria to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.[ 5]
She has won a gold medal at the African Wrestling Championships every year for the last 11 years, except for 2012 when she did not enter due to competing in the 2012 Summer Olympics .[ 6] [ 7] She competed in the freestyle 63 kg event at the 2012 Summer Olympics and was eliminated in the 1/8 finals by Monika Michalik .[ 8]
She won the bronze medal in the women's middleweight at the 2014 Commonwealth Games after defeating Chloe Spiteri in her bronze medal match.[ 9] She also competed in the women's middleweight at the 2016 Summer Olympics , losing to Soronzonboldyn Battsetseg in the second round.[ 10] She won a gold medal for women 63 kg category at the 2017 Islamic Solidarity Games .[ 11] [ 12] She won a gold medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games in the 68 kg women's freestyle wrestling event, defeating Canada's Danielle Lappage .[ 13]
She qualified at the 2021 African & Oceania Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament to represent Nigeria at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.[ 14] [ 15] In June 2021, she won the silver medal in her event at the 2021 Poland Open held in Warsaw, Poland.[ 16] [ 17]
On 3 August 2021, she won the silver medal in the women's freestyle 68 kg after losing to America's Tamyra Mensah-Stock 4–1 at the 2020 Summer Olympics .[ 18] [ 19] [ 20] [ 21] She also became the first Nigerian to win an Olympic medal in wrestling.[ 22] [ 5] She also eventually won the Nigeria's first silver medal at the Tokyo Olympics .[ 23]
In 2022, she won the gold medal in the 68 kg event at the Yasar Dogu Tournament held in Istanbul, Turkey.[ 24] by beating her counterpart Meerim Zhumanazarova from Kyrgyzstan 3–2.[ 25] She won the gold medal in her event at the 2022 African Wrestling Championships held in El Jadida, Morocco.[ 26] A month later, she won one of the bronze medals in her event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy.[ 27] She won the gold medal in the women's 68 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.[ 28]
^ "Blessing Oborududu" . London 2012. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. Retrieved 6 September 2012 .
^ "Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu qualifies for Olympics wrestling final" . The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News . 2 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Oborududu wins Nigeria's first-ever Olympic medal in wrestling" . TheCable . 3 August 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022 .
^ "How Nigeria's first wrestler in Olympics final, Oborududu, was discovered -NWF" . Punch Newspapers . 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ a b c "Blessing Oborududu is Nigeria's first Olympic wrestling medallist - find out more about her" . Tokyo 2020 . Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Blessing Oborududu career placements, United World Wrestling" . United World Wrestling . Retrieved 1 August 2021 .
^ "2020 African Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020 .
^ "Blessing Oborududu - Events and results" . London 2012. Archived from the original on 15 September 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012 .
^ "Glasgow 2014 - Blessing Oborududu Profile" . g2014results.thecgf.com . Retrieved 4 January 2018 .
^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill ; et al. "Blessing Oborududu" . Olympics at Sports-Reference.com . Sports Reference LLC . Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 4 January 2018 .
^ "Azerbaijan wrestlers finish in style" . Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018 .
^ "4th Islamic Solidarity Games - Women's 63 kg freestyle wrestling" (PDF) . 21 May 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018 .
^ "Now this is how you celebrate winning a gold medal" . BBC Sport .
^ Shefferd, Neil (3 April 2021). "Hosts Tunisia claim four more Tokyo 2020 berths on day two of UWW Africa and Oceania Olympic qualifier" . InsideTheGames.biz . Retrieved 3 April 2021 .
^ "2021 African & Oceania Wrestling Olympic Qualification Tournament Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived (PDF) from the original on 5 May 2021. Retrieved 5 May 2021 .
^ Rowbottom, Mike (11 June 2021). "Adekuoroye scatters Rio 2016 medallists en route to gold at UWW Poland Open" . InsideTheGames.biz . Retrieved 4 July 2021 .
^ "2021 Poland Open Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021 .
^ "Tamyra Mensah-Stock Takes Gold in Wrestling" . NBC Chicago . Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Olympics-Wrestling-Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle light heavyweight gold medal" . Reuters . 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Tamyra Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle 68kg" . Tokyo 2020 . Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Former Olympic champion charges Oborududu to forget 'guaranteed silver' and go for gold" . guardian.ng . Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "[BREAKING] Tokyo Olympics: Wrestler Oborududu makes history, wins Nigeria's first silver" . Punch Newspapers . 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "Wrestler Oborududu win Nigeria first Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal" . BBC News Pidgin . Retrieved 3 August 2021 .
^ "2022 Yasar Dogu, Vehbi Emre & Hamit Kaplan Tournament Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived (PDF) from the original on 2 March 2022. Retrieved 2 March 2022 .
^ Vinay. "#WrestleIstanbul: Oborududu Wins 68kg Gold; Tynybekova stunned" . United World Wrestling . Retrieved 25 March 2022 .
^ "2022 African Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022 .
^ "Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 Results Book" (PDF) . United World Wrestling . Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022 .
^ "Wrestling Competition Summary" (PDF) . 2022 Commonwealth Games . Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022 .