 Photo of Blessing Oborududu at the 2020 Summer Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 12 March 1989 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Nigeria | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Amateur wrestling | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Event | Freestyle | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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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.
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]
Marwa Al-Amri is a Tunisian freestyle wrestler. She was born in Tunis. She represented Tunisia in the women's lightweight freestyle competition at the 2008, 2012, 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympics. She is the first woman from Africa win an Olympic medal in wrestling.
Vinesh Phogat is an Indian wrestler. She became the first Indian woman wrestler to win a gold at both the Commonwealth and Asian Games. She is the only Indian woman wrestler to win multiple medals at the World Wrestling Championships. Phogat became the first Indian athlete to be nominated for the Laureus World Sports Awards in 2019.
Aminat Oluwafunmilayo Adeniyi is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 58 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal.
Odunayo Folasade Adekuoroye is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 53 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal and at the 2015 World Wrestling Championships where she won a bronze medal. She won the silver medal at the women's freestyle 55 kilograms 2017 World Wrestling Championships.
Miesinnei Mercy Genesis is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medal in the women's 50 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. At the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, she competed in the Women’s freestyle -48 kg.
Joseph Émilienne Essombe Tiako is a Cameroonian wrestler. She competed in the women's freestyle 53 kg event at the 2016 Summer Olympics, in which she was eliminated in the round of 16 by Betzabeth Argüello.
Samar Amer Ibrahim Hamza is an Egyptian freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 76 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She became the first woman representing Egypt to reach a final at the World Wrestling Championships.
Divya Kakran is a freestyle wrestler from India. Divya has won 60 medals, including 17 gold medals in the Delhi State Championship, and has won the Bharat Kesari title eight times. She has been vocal about being disappointed by the lack of support from the government of Delhi in her pursuit for a medal at the Asian Games in 2018, despite writing to the government about her poor financial background. Divya is presently employed with the Indian Railways as senior ticket examiner.
Women's freestyle 68 kilograms competition at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, took place on 2–3 August 2021 at the Makuhari Messe in Mihama-ku. The qualification rounds were held on 2 August while medal matches were held on the 2nd day of the competition.
Tamyra Mariama Mensah-Stock is an American professional wrestler. She is signed to World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) under a developmental NIL contract.
Blessing Joy Onyebuchi is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler.
Anna Carmen Schell is a German freestyle wrestler. She is a two-time bronze medalist at the World Wrestling Championships and a two-time medalist, including gold, at the European Wrestling Championships. She also represented Germany at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Anastasia Nichita is a Moldovan freestyle wrestler. She won the gold medal in the 59 kg event at the 2022 World Wrestling Championships held in Belgrade, Serbia. She is a three-time gold medalist in the 59 kg event at the European Wrestling Championships. Nichita also represented Moldova at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.
Bose Samuel is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. She is a silver medalist at the African Games and a bronze medalist at the Commonwealth Games.
Anta Sambou is a Senegalese freestyle wrestler. She is a two-time medalist at the African Games. She won the gold medal in her event at the 2022 African Wrestling Championships held in El Jadida, Morocco.
Ogbonna Emmanuel John is a Nigerian freestyle wrestler. He is a gold medalist at the African Games and a four-time gold medalist at the African Wrestling Championships. He is also a bronze medalist at the Commonwealth Games.
Anshu Malik is an Indian freestyle wrestler. She won the silver medal in the women's 57 kg event at the 2021 World Wrestling Championships held in Oslo, Norway. She is the first Indian wrestler to win a silver medal at the World Championships in the women's division.
Sarra Hamdi is a Tunisian freestyle wrestler. She is a silver medalist at the African Games and a five-time medalist, including gold, at the African Wrestling Championships. She competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, in the women's 50 kg event.
Berthe Emillene Etane Ngolle is a Cameroonian freestyle wrestler. She is a two-time silver medalist at the African Games. She won one of the bronze medals in the women's 62 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. She also won the gold medal in her event at the 2022 African Wrestling Championships held in El Jadida, Morocco.
Esther Omolayo Kolawole is a Nigerian wrestler. She represents Nigeria at international competitions. In August 2022, she won bronze in the women's 62 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England.
