Nigeria’s lone medal winner at this year’s IAAF World Athletics Championship in Doha, Qatar has disclosed the she was overjoyed and very excited with her bronze winning feat in the women’s long jump event, megasportsarena.com reports.
Brume helped Nigeria get a first medal of any colour at the championship since 2013 when she leaped to a 6.91m mark (+0.3 wind) in her second attempt and was beaten by a inch to miss out on silver behind Ukraine’s Maryna Bekh-Romanchuk (6.92m).
The Commonwealth and African Games gold medalist made a mark of 6.45m in her attempt but her first mark of 6.91m was enough to earn her third spot on the scorecard, while world number one and Germany’s Malaika Mihambo claimed gold in Doha ahead of Brume and Maryna.
Mihambo, who topped the world list with 7.16m going into the final, produced another stunning 7.30m jump to take the gold, but Brume still emulated fellow Delta State female jumper, Blessing Okagbare, who won silver at the 14th edition of the athletics showpiece at Moscow 2013.
Although Brume was unable to match her 7.05m personal best, which she achieved last August to become the second best jumper in the world, her bronze medal was a huge consolation prize for the Nigerian delegation, which had been on the verge of returning home empty handed.
Consequently, rather than feel sad, dejected or disillusioned by her inability to go beyond third place, Brume said she was filled with joy, and went on to reveal that the tears she shed were not due to sadness or disappointment, but in appreciation of God’s favour in her efforts.
Brume disclosed: “I’m super excited. I’m grateful to God. It’s a big one for me. God has made it possible for me. I was excited, but I tried to keep cool. I wanted to go beyond bronze, but I was not crying because of that, I was just crying for joy.”