I will give my best in London, says Brume

Ese Brume during the long jump event in Rio. The owner of FROT Group, Frank Momoh yesterday rewarded her and coach Kayode Yaya in Lagos.
FRANCK FIFE / AFP

Commonwealth and Africa’s female long jump champion, Ese Brume says she will give the London 2017 IAAF World Athletics Championship the best push it deserves.

At the Rio 2016 Olympic Games in Brazil, Brume was Nigeria’s last athlete standing after all the ‘big names’ failed. She was the only Nigerian athlete who made it to the final in an individual event, when she smashed her personal best of 6.68m with a jump of 6.81m on the final day to finish fifth overall. Brume, who was 20 years old then, was the youngest among the women jumpers at the Rio Olympics.

Now, Brume is in Team Nigeria’s 12-man team to London, and the jumper says she won’t disappoint her teaming fans and family members back home.Speaking with The Guardian yesterday from her base in Benin City, where she is putting finishing torches to her training for the London trip, Brume said: “This is my first IAAF World Athletics Championship at the senior level and I hope to make a good mark in London.”

Brume made her first senior appearance at 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, where she won a gold for Team Nigeria. Few days later, she added another gold, this time at the African senior Athletics Championship in Morocco.

With a sponsorship deal with kits manufacturing company, Adidas, Brume has been travelling around the World since the beginning of the season attending various competitions to equip herself for the London Games.

She was at the Drake Relays, where she placed second with a jump of 6.41m. Brume also attended the University Games, Pamukele in Turkey, where she placed first, setting a new record in the process with a jump of 6.68m. She was also in Boston, USA for the Boost Boston Games, where the jumper placed third with a leap of 6.50m.

According to her, the trip to London will be different. “I have been training very hard here in Benin since the All Nigerian Open Championship in Abuja. My coach Yahaya Kayode has been giving me good technical assistance and I hope to do well in London.”

Brume returned to Nigeria from base in North Cyprus, where she is on a scholarship programme with Eastern Mediterranean University, Famagusta, studying Tourism and Hospitality management.

On what Nigerian should expect from her in London, Brume said: “I can’t promise anything because the IAAF World Championship is a bigger competition. But as I said, I set a target for myself at the beginning of the season and by God’s Grace I will achieve it in London.”