Nigeria’s Tejiri Ugoh Praise has won the gold medal in the women’s 400m event at the ongoing Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, taking the country’s gold medal tally to three.
Praise clocked 52.76 seconds to emerge victorious in the event, giving Team Nigeria another reason to celebrate at the competition on Monday.
Her triumph came a day after Nigeria secured gold medals in the men’s and women’s 100m events on Sunday evening.
The latest victory has also made Dakar 2026 Nigeria’s best-ever outing at the Youth Olympics, which was first held 16 years ago in Singapore.
At the inaugural edition in 2010, Nigeria won four medals, comprising two gold, one silver and one bronze, to finish 29th on the overall medal table.
The country also secured four medals at the 2018 edition in Buenos Aires, Argentina, winning one gold and three silver medals to place 48th overall.
Reacting to the team’s performance, the Director General of the National Sports Commission, Bukola Olopade, said, “Today, Nigeria’s youngsters showed that we are a people from a great country. It shows that when things are done correctly, we excel. Winning four gold medals so far at the Youth Olympics is like the Flamingos winning the World Cup. All of them within three days.”
