Nneka Okpala (born 27 April 1988) is a New Zealand athlete. She competes mainly in the triple jump. [1] [2] She has won the New Zealand women's triple jump competition five times and the Australian women's triple jump title once. [3] [4]
Okpala's parents emigrated from Nigeria to New Zealand in 1987, and Okpala was born in Ōtāhuhu, Auckland the following year. [5] She joined the Papatoetoe Athletics Club when she was 6 years old, and when she was 15 she started competing in the triple jump. [6] Two years later she represented New Zealand at the 2005 IAAF World Youth Championships in Morocco. [3] The same year, she also represented New Zealand at the Sydney Youth Games. [1]
In 2015, she competed for New Zealand at the World University Games in Korea, finishing eighth in the triple jump, [3] while studying at Monash University, Melbourne. [7] Additionally in 2015, Okpala won the Essendon Athletics Club Athlete of the Year award and was named the Monash University Female Athlete of the Year. [6]
Okpala graduated from Monash University with a master's degree in international health. [8]
Sir Peter George Snell was a New Zealand middle-distance runner. He won three Olympic gold medals, and is the only man since 1920 to have won the 800 and 1500 metres at the same Olympics, in 1964.
Dame Yvette Winifred Corlett was a New Zealand track-and-field athlete who was the first woman from her country to win an Olympic gold medal and to hold the world record in the women's long jump. Williams was named "Athlete of the Century" on the 100th anniversary of Athletics New Zealand, in 1987.
Olga RypakovaAlekseyeva; 30 November 1984) is a former Kazakhstani track and field athlete. Originally a heptathlete, she switched to focus on the long jump and began to compete in the triple jump after 2007. Her first successes came in the combined events at Asian competitions – she won the women's pentathlon at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games and took the heptathlon gold at the 2006 Asian Games the following year.
Blessing Oghnewresem Okagbare-Otegheri is a former Nigerian track and field athlete who specialized in long jump and sprints. She is an Olympic and World Championships medallist in the long jump and a world medalist in the 200 metres. Okagbare also holds the women's 100 metres Commonwealth Games record at 10.85 seconds. She is currently serving a 10-year ban for breaching multiple World Athletics anti-doping rules. Her ban expires on 30 July 2032.
Harold Kingsford Brainsby was a New Zealand field athlete who won a bronze medal in the triple jump at the 1934 British Empire Games in London.
Shirley Ngarita Peterson was a New Zealand track and field athlete. She represented her country at the 1950 British Empire Games, winning a silver medal in the women's 440 yards relay. From 1980, she became active in masters athletics, setting world records in various events and age-group categories, and winning multiple world masters athletics championship titles.
Luuka Jones is a New Zealand slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2006.
David Stanley Norris is a former New Zealand athlete who specialised in the long jump and triple jump.
Julia Ratcliffe is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete who specialised in the hammer throw. She won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, having won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Tonga competed in the 2011 Commonwealth Youth Games held in the British Crown Dependency of Isle of Man from 7 to 13 September 2011. Their participation marked their second Commonwealth Youth Games appearance. The delegation of Tonga consisted of three officials and four competitors participating in three different sports— athletics, boxing and swimming. This was a decrease in the number of athletes from the nation's last appearance at the Games, when nine athletes were sent to the 2008 Commonwealth Youth Games in Pune. Heamasi Sekona won a bronze in the light heavyweight class of boxing without winning a single bout. Sekona was the only medalist from Tongan side. None of the rest three athletes advanced past the qualifying stages, and thus did not win any medals. Katiloka ranked eighth overall in the qualifying round for triple jump; middleweight boxer, Pomale, lost to Cody Crowley of Canada in his first round match. Additionally, Prescott ranked 18th and 13th in the heat rounds of 50 m and 100 m backstroke events respectively. Sekona's was the first medal for Tonga in the history of the Games.
Kim Annette Robertson is a New Zealand former track and field sprinter. She represented New Zealand at three Commonwealth Games, one World Indoor Championship, three IAAF World Cups and three Pacific Conference Games. She was also selected in the 1980 Moscow Olympic team in the 400 meters but did not compete due to the NZ Government boycotting the event.
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