Ifiezegbe Gagbe of Bayelsa has emerged as the most decorated athlete of the 20th edition of the National Sports Festival (NSF) in Edo after winning 15 medals in the swimming event.

Ms Gagbe won eight gold, two silver, and five bronze medals in the aquatic events.

Aside from the laurels won, the swimmer, who also had no fewer than 10 silver medals to her name at the last games held in Abuja in 2018, broke six records in the swimming event in Edo 2020.

She created new records in 100m freestyle, 400m individual medley, 1500m freestyle, 200m freestyle, and 400m freestyle.

The Bayelsa swimmer returned a time of 1:01.54 in the 100m freestyle for women, against the festival record of 1:02.66 that was set in 2012.

Mr Gagbe also erased the festival record of 5:47.95 in the 400m individual medley set in 2006 by returning a time of 5:46.95.

Similarly, she beat the record of 21:05.10 set in 2018 by finishing the 1500m freestyle women in a new record of 21:04.92.

Ms Gagbe also created new records of 2:17.05 against the 2018 record of 2:20.28 and 5:04.30 against the 2012 record of 5:09.71 in the 200m and 400m freestyles for women, respectively.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo is expected to declare the games closed on Wednesday.

The 20th NSF, which had suffered several postponements, finally got underway on April 2, while the official opening ceremony for the nation’s biggest sporting fiesta took place on April 6. 

(NAN)