Blessing Oborududu
Photo of Blessing Oborududu at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Personal information
Born (1989-03-12) 12 March 1989
Sport
CountryNigeria
SportAmateur wrestling
EventFreestyle
Medal record
Women's freestyle wrestling
Representing  Nigeria
Olympic Games
Silver medal – second place2020 Tokyo68 kg
2021 Poland Open
Silver medal – second place2021 Poland68 kg
African Championships
Gold medal – first place2023 Hammamet68 kg
Gold medal – first place2022 El Jadida68 kg
Gold medal – first place2020 Algiers68 kg
Gold medal – first place2019 Hammamet68 kg
Gold medal – first place2018 Port Harcourt68 kg
Gold medal – first place2017 Marrakesh63 kg
Gold medal – first place2016 Alexandria69 kg
Gold medal – first place2015 Alexandria63 kg
Gold medal – first place2014 Tunis63 kg
Gold medal – first place2013 N'Djamena63 kg
Gold medal – first place2011 Dakar63 kg
Gold medal – first place2010 Cairo59 kg
Bronze medal – third place2009 Casablanca59 kg
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place2018 Gold Coast68 kg
Gold medal – first place2022 Birmingham68 kg
Silver medal – second place2010 Delhi63 kg
Bronze medal – third place2014 Glasgow63 kg
Islamic Solidarity Games
Gold medal – first place2017 Baku63 kg
Yasar Dogu Tournament
Gold medal – first place2022 Istanbul68 kg
Bronze medal – third place2019 Istanbul68 kg

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 twelve-time African champion from 2010 to 2023.

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] She won the gold medal in her event at the 2022 African Wrestling Championships held in El Jadida, Morocco.[26] A month later, she won one of the bronze medals in her event at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 held in Rome, Italy.[27] She won the gold medal in the women's 68 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.[28]

References

  1. ↑ "Blessing Oborududu". London 2012. Archived from the original on 3 April 2013. 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. 1 2 3 "Blessing Oborududu is Nigeria's first Olympic wrestling medallist - find out more about her". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. 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. Archived from the original on 15 September 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.
  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. ↑ "Olympics-Wrestling-Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle light heavyweight gold medal". Reuters. 3 August 2021. Retrieved 3 August 2021.
  20. ↑ "Tamyra Mensah-Stock wins women's freestyle 68kg". Tokyo 2020. Archived from the original on 3 August 2021. 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.
  26. ↑ "2022 African Wrestling Championships Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 22 May 2022. Retrieved 22 May 2022.
  27. ↑ "Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series 2022 Results Book" (PDF). United World Wrestling. Archived from the original (PDF) on 25 June 2022. Retrieved 25 June 2022.
  28. ↑ "Wrestling Competition Summary" (PDF). 2022 Commonwealth Games. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 August 2022. Retrieved 6 August 2022.
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