Commonwealth Games medalist, Udo-Gabriel sets eyes on 2020 Olympics

A member of Nigeria’s women 4x100m bronze winning team at the recently concluded Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, Joy Udo-Gabriel, is looking forward to bring more laurels to the country at the 2020 Olympics Games in Tokyo, Japan.

The teenager made her international debut at the Commonwealth Games shattering her former Personal Best (PB) of 11.65s and replacing it with a new time of 11.42s in the 100m. She advanced to the semis where she finished 4th in 11.53s, narrowly missing a spot in the final as she finished 9th overall.

The 18-year-old athlete, a product of Making of Champions (MoC), went on to team up with Blessing Okagbare, Tobi Amusan and Rosemary Chukwuma to capture a bronze medal in the 4x100m in a time of 42.75s.

Joy Udo-Gabriel and officials of MoC were at the corporate office of ARCO Group of Companies in Lagos yesterday to thank their sponsor.Udo-Gabriel was particularly grateful for the impact, which the partnership between ARCO and MoC had in her academic and athletics career. “I will remain grateful to our sponsor, ARCO, and officials of MoC, including coach Deji Aliu for what they have done in my career. The sponsorship from ARCO made me stay focused in pursuit of my studies and on the track. The Commonwealth Games was my first major competition, and I hope to bring more laurels to the country in the nearest future.”

The Group Managing Director of ARCO, Alfred Okoigun was delighted for the bronze medal, particularly the part played by one of the athletes under their sponsorship, Joy Udo-Gabriel.“I am glad that our partnership with MoC is paying off in a big way. Our initial partnership was for three years, but I will hold talks with my people to extend it to six years,” Okoigun stated.

The Founder and Chief Executive Officer of MoC, Bambo Akani said the success by Udo-Gabriel at the Commonwealth Games would further encourage them to produce more athletes for the country, adding that their focus was on Tokyo 2020 Olympics Games.