TOKYO 2020
Duro Ikhazuagbe
Fate played a cruel joke on Enoch Adegoke yesterday as his bid for an Olympic medal, just in his first attempt, ended in tears.
The 21-year old sprinter had hamstring injury 40m into the 100m final race with him clearly ahead of Canada’s Andre de Grasse on his outer lane. The Canadian picked the bronze medal.
The National Sports Festival fastest man last April gave a hint of what to expect in the final race when he flew past USA’s Trayvon Bromell in 9.98secs new personal Best time to reach the semi final of the blue ribband event of Tokyo 2020.
The feat was a confirmation of his arrival in the league of top sprinters in the world.
And in the absence of world’s fastest in 2021, Christian Coleman and Trayvon Bromell (who crashed out in the semis), the 100m final had been narrowed down to South Africa’s Simbine Akani and De Grasse. Adegoke and eventual winner, Italy’s Lamont Jacobs, were considered outsiders for the title. Adegoke’s dark horse status was more of an advantage.
He was not under any pressure to false start like another Nigerian Divine Oduduru who ended his 100m quest in the heat as he was fired after all the sprinters in that heat had earlier been given warning for a technical fault.
Despite Adegoke’s inability to finish the race, he still entered Nigeria’s track history books as the first Nigerian 100m finalist since Davidson Ezinwa placed seventh at the Atlanta 1996 Olympics.
He’s also the third Nigerian man to qualify for the 100m final after the iconic duo of Ezinwa and Olapade Adeniken.
Adegoke’s fairytale story which ended as an Olympic 100m finalist began in January when he scorched to a 10.16 seconds world lead at the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, All Comers meet in Akure, South West Nigeria.
Two months later, he ran 10.16 seconds again at the MOC Grand Prix at the sports ground of Yaba College of Technology in Yaba, Lagos.
This was after a +2.7mps tail wind rendered as invalid the 10.05 seconds he ran in his semifinal heat at meeting.
Adegoke did not only prove his early in the season 10.16 seconds return in Akure was not by happenstance, he also established himself as the athlete to beat in the Nigerian athletics circuit.
