Blessing Okagbare-Ighoteguonor (born 9 October 1988) is a Nigerian track and field athlete who specializes in long jumping and short sprints.
She is an Olympic and World Championships medalist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres.
She also holds the Women’s 100 metres Commonwealth Games record for the fastest time at 10.85 seconds.
Her 100 m best of 10.79 made her the African record holder for the event until it was eclipsed by Murielle Ahouré in 2016.
She is the current African record holder in the 200 m with her run of 22.04 seconds in 2018.
She was an African 100 m and long jump champion in 2010. She has also won medals at the All-Africa Games, IAAF Continental Cup and World Relays.
Of Urhobo heritage, Okagbare was born in Sapele, Delta, in Nigeria. Given her athletic physique, teachers and family encouraged her to take up sports.
Initially, she played football as a teenager at her high school and later, in 2004, she began to take an interest in track and field.
She participated in several disciplines early on, competing in the long jump, triple jump and high jump events at the Nigerian school championships and winning a medal in each.
On the senior national stage, she was a triple jump bronze medallist at the 2004 Nigerian National Sports Festival.
Okagbare’s first international outing came at the 2006 World Junior Championships in Athletics, where she performed in the qualifying rounds of both the long and triple jump competitions.
In May 2007, at the All-Africa Games trials in Lagos, she established a Nigerian record of 14.13 metres in the triple jump.
At the 2007 All-Africa Games, she won the silver medal in the long jump and finished fourth in the triple jump.
In the latter competition, her Nigerian record was beaten by Chinonye Ohadugha, who jumped 14.21 metres.
As a 19-year-old, she won a bronze medal in the women’s long jump event at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
She was selected to compete at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics but did not start either the 100 m or long jump.
She won the Nigerian 100 m title in 2010, running a time of 11.04 seconds, and stated that she was opting out of the long jump to save herself for the upcoming African championships.
