Nigerian wrestling Olympic silver medalist, Blessing Oborududu, has expressed gratitude to her fans for their support following her elimination from the 2024 Paris Olympics games.
Oborududu’s Olympics journey ended on Tuesday when she lost her semifinal match against Japanese opponent, Nonoka Ozaki, despite making it to the finals of the Women’s Freestyle 68kg, where with a victory she could have at least won a bronze medal.
In a message shared on her Facebook page, Oborududu chronicled the events leading up the games.
She disclosed that she sustained a fracture to her femur bone that medically ruled her out completely from participating in the Paris Olympics.
She however said she decided to proceed to the games “looking at the promises I have made to you, to my country, to myself, the hopes I pass on to the younger athletes God has blessed me to mentor per time, and as I penned down an undertaking, relieving anyone from any responsibility of whatever happens to me and taking my life in my hands, I proceeded to the Olympics.
“With this move I went to Paris with hopes and dreams. I made it to the Semi Finals. But as God would have it, I didn’t clinch on any medal. I was devastated, I felt so much pain, I still do.”
Despite failing to clinch a medal in her latest Olympics outing, Oborududu explained that she had her best performance ever in an Olympics tournament in Paris.
Her words, “But then in the midst of it all, I began to realize certain truths, wins and blessings that had occurred for me even in this seemingly loss of mine.
“I realized that in this Olympics I actually had my best performance from all other Olympics attended,that I didn’t lose my leg completely in the process.
“That I had an angel in the form of Coach Happy who stood by me through it all even when I was left behind and others had proceeded to Germany without me.
“That I had my other coaches, Coach Purity Akuh and Coach Victor Kodei alongside my team mates praying for me, that I had fans, family and friends that supported me and celebrated me even more when I lost, that I was honored with a standing and clapping ovation as I walked out of that mat in pain.
“That I fought the challenges life threw at me with resilience and still made it to Paris, that I have a God who still got my back even though sometimes we might not understand why certain things happen or turn out the way they do.
“This is me saying, I am still grateful. I won. I won at life, I won at not backing down even with all the odds against me, I won at not failing you all by representing our nation on the highest sports platform in the world.
“So please don’t feel disappointed at me for not clinching a medal at least, don’t be sad for me. Instead, rejoice and be glad, because today, we are all winners!”
Oburududu who won a silver medal in the last Olympics in Tokyo, 2020 encouraged other African athletes still in the competition to be hopeful in their dreams of finishing on the podium.
She particularly thanked her coaches, stakeholders, board members of the Nigerian Wrestling Federation, the Federal Ministry of Sports for their support during her preparation to the games.
