Blessing Oborududu

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 ten time African champion from 2010 to 2020.

Blessing Oborududu
Photo of Blessing Oborududu at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born (1989-03-12) 12 March 1989
Sport
CountryNigeria
SportAmateur wrestling
Event(s)Freestyle
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Nigeria
Olympic Games
2020 Tokyo68 kg
2021 Poland Open
2021 Poland68 kg
African Wrestling Championships
2020 Algiers68 kg
2019 Hammamet68 kg
2018 Port Harcourt68 kg
2017 Marrakesh63 kg
2016 Alexandria69 kg
2015 Alexandria63 kg
2014 Tunis63 kg
2013 N'Djamena63 kg
2011 Dakar63 kg
2010 Cairo59 kg
2009 Casablanca59 kg
Commonwealth Games
2018 Gold Coast68 kg
2010 Delhi63 kg
2014 Glasgow63 kg
Islamic Solidarity Games
2017 Baku63 kg
Yasar Dogu Tournament
2022 Istanbul68 kg
2019 Istanbul68 kg

Career

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]

References
  1. "Blessing Oborududu". London 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  2. "Nigeria's Blessing Oborududu qualifies for Olympics wrestling final". The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World News. 2 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  3. "Oborududu wins Nigeria's first-ever Olympic medal in wrestling". TheCable. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  4. "How Nigeria's first wrestler in Olympics final, Oborududu, was discovered -NWF". Punch Newspapers. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  5. "Blessing Oborududu is Nigeria's first Olympic wrestling medallist - find out more about her". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  6. "Blessing Oborududu career placements, United World Wrestling". United World Wrestling. Retrieved 1 August 2021.
  7. "2020 African Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 16 June 2020. Retrieved 16 June 2020.
  8. "Blessing Oborududu - Events and results". London 2012. Retrieved 6 September 2012.
  9. "Glasgow 2014 - Blessing Oborududu Profile". g2014results.thecgf.com. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  10. 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.
  11. "Azerbaijan wrestlers finish in style". Archived from the original on 5 January 2018. Retrieved 4 January 2018.
  12. "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.
  13. "Now this is how you celebrate winning a gold medal". BBC Sport.
  14. 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.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  15. "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.
  16. Rowbottom, Mike (11 June 2021). "Adekuoroye scatters Rio 2016 medallists en route to gold at UWW Poland Open". InsideTheGames.biz. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  17. "2021 Poland Open Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived (PDF) from the original on 4 July 2021. Retrieved 4 July 2021.
  18. "Tamyra Mensah-Stock Takes Gold in Wrestling". NBC Chicago. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  19. Reuters Staff (3 August 2021). "Olympics-Wrestling-Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle light heavyweight gold medal". Reuters. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  20. "Tamyra Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle 68kg". Tokyo 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  21. "Former Olympic champion charges Oborududu to forget 'guaranteed silver' and go for gold". guardian.ng. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  22. "[BREAKING] Tokyo Olympics: Wrestler Oborududu makes history, wins Nigeria's first silver". Punch Newspapers. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  23. "Wrestler Oborududu win Nigeria first Tokyo 2020 Olympics medal". BBC News Pidgin. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  24. "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.
  25. Vinay. "#WrestleIstanbul: Oborududu Wins 68kg Gold; Tynybekova stunned". United World Wrestling. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
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