Olympics: Enekwechi fails in men’s shot put; Women 4 x 100m relay team flops

Abuja, Aug. 5, 2021

Chukwuebuka Enekwechi on Thursday failed to impress in the final of the men’s shot put event at the ongoing 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.

The 28-year-old who threw 21.28 metres to win the 2019 African Games gold in Rabat could only record a throw of 19.74 to place last on Thursday in the 12-man field.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Ryan Crouser of the U.S set a new Olympic record in the event with a throw of 23.30.

Crouser who is also the world record-holder with 23.37, set on June 18, erased his Olympic record of 22.52 set at the Rio Games in 2016.

His compatriot, Joe Kovacs, won the silver medal with 22.65 while Tomas Walsh of New Zealand won the bronze with a season best 22.47.

Nigeria’s women’s 4 x 100 metres relay team were also unsuccessful on Thursday as they could only turn in a time of 43.25 seconds in their heat at the Tokyo Olympic Games.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the result could only place the team in sixth position in the eight-team heat 2 of the competition’s first round.

The result was a bad one for Team Nigeria, which had Tobiloba Amusan, Grace Nwokocha, Patience George and Ese Brume and which ran from lane 4 of the heat.

They hold an African record of 42.39 (Barcelona Games in 1992) and season best of 42.97 (Lagos on June 19), which had looked good enough for them ahead of the competition.

Germany won the heat with a season best 42.00, while Switzerland came second with a national record of 42.05 and China third with 42.82.

All three teams qualified ahead of Poland and Brazil who had their season best records of 43.09 and 43.15 for fourth and fifth places respectively.