BATON ROUGE — Senior hurdler Jessica Ohanaja is the latest LSU track and field athlete to punch a ticket to Beijing, China, to compete in the 2008 Olympic Games as she will line up in the 100-meter hurdles for Nigeria as announced by the Athletic Federation of Nigeria this week.
Ohanaja earned a spot on the Nigerian team after winning a silver medal in the sprint hurdles last weekend at the NNPC/ExxonMobil Track and Field Championships in Abuja, Nigeria.
The meet was organized to select athletes who will represent Nigeria in the Olympic Games later this summer, and Ohanaja will compete for the first time in her young career as her personal best time of 13.01 seconds is well below the Olympic “B” qualifying standard of 13.11 needed to line up in the preliminary round of the 100-meter hurdles in Beijing.
She will join her Nigerian teammates in Seoul, South Korea, this weekend as the squad will begin its preparation for the Olympics with a closed training camp scheduled to run through Aug. 1.
The Houston native wrapped up her brilliant four-year career with the Lady Tigers at the NCAA Outdoor Track and Field Championships where she earned All-America honors with a sixth-place finish in the 100-meter hurdles to help lead LSU to its 31st NCAA team title in program history.
Ohanaja, who also earned All-America honors during the indoor season with a fifth-place finish in the 60-meter hurdles at the NCAA Indoor Championships in March, is one of the all-time great hurdlers to wear the purple and gold as she leaves LSU as a seven-time All-American.
Ohanaja is the seventh LSU track athlete to qualify for the Olympics, joining former Lady Tigers Lolo Jones (100 hurdles) and Muna Lee (100 meters, 200 meters) of the United States, former Tiger Isa Phillips (400 hurdles) and junior Nickiesha Wilson (400 hurdles) of Jamaica, and seniors Kelly Baptiste (100 meters) and Richard Thompson (100 meters) of Trinidad and Tobago.
The 2008 Olympic Games is less than one month away as the city of Beijing, China, will host the three-week long event from Aug. 8-24. All track and field events at the games are scheduled to run from Aug. 15-24 and will be held at Olympic Stadium in Beijing.