Chierika Ukogu Used A Rejected Sport To Give Nigeria Her First Rio Olympic Medal

As team Nigeria made frantic effort to cling a medal at the Rio Olympics, it was the individual and self-sponsored effort of Chierika Ukogu that broke the jinx and put Nigeria's name on the medal table after the professional rower won silver medal at the Rio Olympics. Sports-loving Nigerians who were following the Rio Olympics would have probably been looking up to football or track and field to deliver, but Chierika diverted the attention of Nigerians when she first reached the semifinal before eventually making it to win the Silver medal. Rowing is a sport that is not even talked about in Nigeria, and has never been recognized even in the National Sports Festival, but the 23-year-old American-born Nigerian rower made history out of it, by becoming the first Nigerian to represent Nigeria in the game and also winning a medal in it. Although the event was post-poned due to bad weather, Chierika finished second in the semifinal of the Final D of women's Single Sculls Rowing event on Saturday in lane 4, within a time frame of  7:44:76. Her medal put Nigeria's name on the Rio Olympic medal table while Boxing, Football and others hope to join her later. Chierika was born on October 2, 1992 she qualified to represent Nigeria during the FISA African Olympic Qualification Regatta, and she is the first Nigerian to achieve such feat.