Reigning Commonwealth Games and African long jump record holder, Ese Brume, has shifted her focus to the United States for her qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympics Games after she was denied visa by the Chinese Embassy in Lagos, thereby preventing her from competing in the Diamond League in Suzhou, yesterday.
Reigning Commonwealth Games and African long jump record holder, Ese Brume, has shifted her focus to the United States for her qualification to the Paris 2024 Olympics Games after she was denied visa by the Chinese Embassy in Lagos, thereby preventing her from competing in the Diamond League in Suzhou, yesterday.
Brume was aiming to use the Diamond League in Suzhou to hit the 6.86m mark to secure automatic qualification for the Paris 2024 Games, her third straight Olympics appearance, but the Chinese Embassy refused to give visa for the trip.
Her coach, Kayode Yahaya told The Guardian, in a telephone chat, yesterday, that they submitted their all relevant documents at the Chinese Embassy for visa but it was turned down. “I don’t really know why they refused to give us visa this time,” Yahaya said. “Last year, they did not waste time before giving us the visa to attend the Diamond League in China. We were shocked when they handed our passport to us without visa.
“Ese is in Nigeria at the moment, but she will be returning to the U.S. very soon to continue the battle for the ticket to the Paris Olympics. I am sure she will get the ticket very soon,” Yahaya stated.
Last month in Accra, Ghana, Brume actually got the qualification mark during the African Games with her 6.92m gold winning leap, but it was rendered illegal by a massive +3.9m/s tail wind.
She is seeking to become the first Nigerian track and field athlete to win two individual medals at the Olympics after winning bronze at Rio 2016 Olympics eight years ago.
Apart from targeting the ticket in the U.S., Brume still have several windows open for her to grab the ticket to Paris. They include the African Senior Athletics Championships scheduled for Douala, Cameroun from June 21 to 26 as well as the Diamond League on July 7 in Paris, France.
Meanwhile, World 100m hurdles record holder, Tobi Amusan was disqualified yesterday for violating the false rule (162.8) at the Suzhou Diamond League meeting in Suzhou, China.
The Nigerian however ran under protest and won the race ahead of reigning Olympic champion, Jasmine Camacho-Quinn and world indoor champion and record holder, Devynne Charlton of the Bahamas.
Amusan’s result would however not count but the 27 year old has restored confidence and will build on her performance after finishing fifth in Xiamen, also in China in the opening leg of the 2024 Diamond League series.
This would be the second time Amusan would be flagged for false starting at the Diamond League. The first was in 2019 at the Memmorial van Damme in Bruseels, Belgium.
Camacho-Quinn who was awarded the race, the $10,000 prize money and the eight points says she is taking a break to ostensibly focus on her training for the Olympic Games.
“I was ready to throw it, it took such a long time to get going. I’ll take the Diamond League points and take a break. I can’t believe the time, but it is what it is.
“There was three of is in a line, so I didn’t know who had won. The meets are just preparation (for the Olympic Games) and I know what I need to work on,’ said the Puerto Rican.