Nigeria’s Paralympic team captain, Folashade Oluwafemiayo, clinched a gold medal in the Powerlifting event at the Paralympics 2024 in Paris, shattering two world records on Sunday.
Nigeria's grand performance ended with her impressively weightlifting 167kg, which resulted in two gold, three silver, and two bronze medals.
The team's captain remarkable lift of 167kg not only broke her previous world record in the women’s 86kg Para-Powerlifting category, but it also made her the first Para-athlete in history to achieve such a feat.
However, the contingent captain, Folashade is now a two-time Paralympic champion.
The 39-year-old participated in the 2012 Paralympic tournament acquiring a silver medal in London.
As Nigeria’s team captain for Paris 2024, Oluwafemiayo had earlier won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games.
The 39-year-old reportedly missed the Rio 2016 Games due to pregnancy but made a triumphant comeback five years later, clinching the gold at Tokyo 2020.
Folashade's exceptional feat on Sunday came after other significant accomplishments, such as Flora Ugwunwa's silver medal in the Women's Javelin F54 event on Saturday, which was Nigeria's first medal in Para-Athletics at these Games.
Ugwunwa had an impressive throw of 19.26 meters earning her second place, a trail behind Uzbekistan's Nurkhon Kurbanova, who set a world record with a 21.12-meter throw.
Meanwhile the 40-year-old Javelin Para-Athlete has now won three consecutive Paralympic medals, showcasing her enduring talent, with two Golds from Rio and Tokyo, and a Silver from Paris.
Furthermore, the Para-Powerlifting gold medal winner, Onyinyechi Mark, broke her own world record with a breathtaking weight lift of 147kg, becoming the first woman to achieve this feat on Friday.
Additional two new Paralympic Records were set having, Isau Ogunkunle who secured a bronze medal in Para-Table Tennis, while Esther Nworgu won silver medal in the women’s up to 41kg Para-Powerlifting event.
Eniola Bolaji also made history in the tournament as the first African to win a medal in Badminton at the Olympic or Paralympic Games, defeating her Ukrainian opponent in straight sets.
According to Niger Delta Connect news Nigeria's star, Bolaji, on Monday morning, defeated Oksana Kozyna in straight sets 2-0 (21-9, 21-9), winning Nigeria’s 1st medal for the 2024 Paralympic games in Paris.
Following the recent disappointments in the Olympic Games and the World U-20 Athletics Championships which held in Paris and Lima respectively,these medal-winning performances will serve as a big consolation for Nigeria.
