National Sports Festival: Ogun wins first Swimming Gold

Omolola Tobiloba, in the women's 800m freestyle race, has won Team Ogun her first gold medal in the swimming event at the ongoing 2024 National Sports Festival.

The Swimming event, which started on Wednesday at the Moshood Abiola Sports Complex in Abeokuta, Tobiloloba dominated the fiercely contested final, finishing with a time of 10:22:32 to secure the top spot and deliver the host state’s first gold in the pool.

Oka Dorcas of Team Bayelsa earned the silver medal, touching the wall at 10:58:50, while Delta State's Deborah Opochini clinched bronze with a time of 11:04:85.

The remaining field saw Oluwatobiloba Nedd of Team Lagos come in fourth (12:05:70), closely followed by Tofunmi Ibidapo of Team Oyo (12:21:40).

Nigeria Patience of Team Ondo finished sixth (13:15:00), while Demehin Mary rounded off the race in seventh place with a time of 14:13:45.

Reacting after confirming her victory, which will earn her 2.5 million, Tobiloba shared her emotional and physical struggles.

According to her, “The challenge is mostly mental. My body was hurting, but I told myself, ‘I’ve trained for this moment.’ I kept striving, and when I touched the wall, all the pain just disappeared.

“The 800 is a very long event, so I had to prepare mentally. Even though I started in third, I kept telling myself, ‘I’m ready. I’m going to win this.’ At the halfway mark, I pushed harder and started gaining speed. I said to myself, ‘I’m going to get this gold’ and I did," she concluded.

As competition intensifies in the days ahead, all eyes will be on Team Ogun to see if this home-turf triumph in the pool sparks further medal success.