Ese Brume: Rise to stardom
Ese Brume is a 25-year-old Nigerian athlete who competes in the long jump. She was born on 20 January 1996 in Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria. Her mother and father are teachers.
She is a three-time African senior champion in the long jump.
In 2021, her younger brother Okeoghene Brume broke the African u-18 100 meter record with 10.13s.
Career: Brume first emerged at national level aged 16 at the 2012 Nigerian Athletics Championships. She placed sixth in the long jump, clearing over six meters. She also was the winner at the 18th National Sports Festival in Lagos.
In 2013, she set a personal best of 6.53 m (21 ft 5 in) to place second nationally, behind Blessing Okagbare. She was one of the most successful athletes at the 2013 African Junior Athletics Championships: she won the long jump title, took silver in the triple jump, and was part of Nigeria’s winning 4×100 meters relay team. She also placed fourth individually in the 100 meters. Brume successfully defended her long jump title at the next edition of the African Junior Athletics Championships in Addis Ababa. This time, she was even more successful as she added the triple jump and 4 x 100 m relay title, and a bronze medal in the individual 100 meters to her collection.
In May 2014 she ran a 100 m best of 11.84 seconds then followed this with a long jump best and new African junior record of 6.60 m (21 ft 7+3?4 in) to win at the Warri Relays. She improved to 6.68 m (21 ft 10+3?4 in) at the Nigerian Championships to win her first national title She was chosen for the discipline at the 2014 World Junior Championships in Athletics but, having flown to Eugene, Oregon just a day before competing, she performed poorly and was bottom of the qualifying. The Nigerian junior women relay team also did not fare well, being eliminated in qualifying.
Just five days later, she represented Nigeria at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Blessing Okagbare opted to compete in the sprints so Brume was Nigeria’s sole entrant for the event. The 18-year-old excelled in the Commonwealth Games long jump, clearing 6.56 m (21 ft 6+1?4 in) in the final to win the gold medal. Brume dedicated her victory to Emmanuel Uduaghan, Delta State’s governor who invested in track and field infrastructure and support in the region. Okagbare, who won a Commonwealth sprint double, was also a product of the system and Brume stated that she was inspired by the older athlete’s achievements. As a result of her own medal feats, Brume was given an athletic scholarship to study in the United States, with local government support.
2016: Having already secured the qualification standard for the Rio Olympics with her personal record jump in June 2016 at the Akure Golden League, Brume headed to Durban for the African Athletics Championships as the African leader in her event. She successfully defended her title from the previous championships.
Brume qualified for the Rio olympics long jump final as the third best athlete in her pool. This placed her in sixth position going into the final of the event. She eventually ended the competition in fifth place leaping a distance of 6.81 meters which was just 2 centimeters shy of her personal record which she had set earlier in the year.
2018: Brume became double Turkish Universities champion at the Turkey Koç Fest Universities Sports Games, representing her university, Eastern Mediterranean University. She set a meeting record and African lead of 6.82 m at the first leg of the 2018 World Challenge series in Kingston Jamaica. This mark remained the best jump by an African athlete until the 2018 African Championships in Athletics in Asaba. There, she increased her African lean by a centimeter to win her third consecutive African senior title. She then represented Africa at the Ostrava Continental Cup where she placed fourth. 2018 also saw Brume defend her title at the 19th Nigerian National Sports Festival in Abuja, in a new festival record of 6.62 meters.
2019: Brume has been shortlisted as a nominee in the StarQt Award in the Africa Sportswoman of the Year category. She is the only Nigerian athlete nominated in any category. The event was held in October in Johannesburg.
She became the African Games champion in the Long Jump on 29 August 2019. This was her first African games title. On 24 July 2019, in Erzurum, she improved her personal best to 6.96m despite a very strong headwind. At the Turkish championships in Bursa on 4 August, she broke the 7-meter barrier for the first time in her career, surpassing that mark twice in the competition. Her jump of 7.05 m (+ 0.9m/s) ranks as the second best African performance in history. On 6 October, she won the bronze medal in the World Championships with a jump of 6.91m.
2021: Brume became the first Nigerian athlete to win a medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics. She finished 3rd in the long jump sports with a record of 6.97m,
Record (Best)
100 metres – 11.84 sec (2014)
Long jump – 6.83 m (2016)
Triple jump – 12.52 m (2013)
Dedicates medal to Oyedepo
After an impressive performance that earned her Bronze at the Tokyo Olympics, Brume dedicated her medal to Bishop David Oyedepo, founder and presiding Bishop of the mega church Living Faith Church Worldwide popularly known as Winners’ Chapel International.
2022: Ese Brume has won gold for Nigeria in the women’s long jump at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Brume had a no jump on her first attempt but bounced back right away to jump 6.99m to take the lead in the final and set a new Games Record. She added no jump, 6.99m, 6.81m, 6.99m, and 6.96m in her subsequent jumps but none of her opponents could match or surpass her thereby securing gold with a jump to spare.
However, on her very last attempt, Brume jumped seven meters for another Games Record to become the first woman to jump that far in the history of the Commonwealth Games.
Brume has been arguably Nigeria’s most consistent athlete over the past four years.
Brume’s heroics came on the same day her friend Tobi Amusan also set a new Games Record in the women’s 100m hurdles.
The Nigerian lined up in the final as favourite for gold and there was no stopping her as she blazed to a new Games Record of 12.30 seconds to retain the title she won four years ago in the Gold Coast, Australia.
Devynne Charlton finished a distant second to win silver for the Bahamas while Cindy Sember whose father is Nigerian won bronze for Great Britain.