Ajoke Odumosu Eyes 400m Hurdles Medal

Nigeria’s Ajoke Odumosu could grab a medal when she competes in the 400m women hurdles final of the London 2012 Olympic Games slated for the Olympic Stadium.

Odumosu survived all odds in the race to qualify for the final in Monday’s semi final event, where she set a new national record time of 54.40secs.

The Nigerian shattered her previous personal best time of 54:75secs achieved at the African Athletics Trials held in Lome, Togo last month before the ongoing London Olympics. But the Commonwealth and African 400m hurdles champion, will have to improve on her speed as she has two other athletes to contend with if she must pick a medal.

Lashinda Demus of the United States of America, USA finished in a time of 54.08secs to win one of the semi-finals, while Jamaica’s Kaliese Spencer clocked a time of 54.20secs.

Mathematically, Odumosu could pick a medal going by the difference she clocked compared to that of Demus and Spencer. The difference between the time Odumosu clocked and Demus’ is 32secs, while that of Spencer’s is 20secs.

Other athletes that qualified for the final race did not beat  Odumosu’s time, but they could increase their speed.

The other 400m women hurdles finalists include: Georganne Moline of the USA, who came second behind Odumosu with a time of 54.74secs, Perri Shakes-Drayton of Britain, 55.19secs, Natalya Antyukh of Russia, 53.33secs

Zuzana Hejnova of Czech Republic finished in a time of 53.62secs and T’Erea Brown of the USA 54.21secs.

After the race, Odumosu was elated about setting a new record for herself. “I’m really shocked. I knew I was strong, but I need to dig deep,” she said.

On her expectations in the final, she said “I have the energy to go faster and I’m working towards breaking the 54 secs barrier.”

“I’m going to recover and get some treatment and, hopefully, come out on top,” she added.Since I doubled up in the 400m and 400m hurdles in Beijing 2008, I love to exploit both sides of the races. I feel confident coming into London in the hurdles, that’s why I stuck with the new time.

“I just wanted to make sure I executed my first race to see how it feels. I hope to win a medal in the final, I hope I can do this for Nigeria.”

We’ll go back and make some adjustments and take it from there.”

—Adebobola Alawode