Update: Oluwafemiayo won gold at the Paris Paralympics and broke her own World Record in the over 86 kg category. She is the first woman in the history of the Paralympics to lift 166 kgs.
Nigerian powerlifter Folashade Oluwafemiayo has set her sights on adding more medals to her decorated trophy cabinet at the Paralympics in Paris. The para powerlifter will be defending her over-86 kg women’s gold medal as she leads the Nigerian paralympic team and represents Africa in Paris.
The 39-year-old has not shied away from giving glory to God for her medals which include silver and gold medals in previous paralympics and a Commonwealth gold medal. She is also the reigning world record holder in the 86 kg category having won four consecutive Para Powerlifting Championships as well as breaking the world record at the 2020 Tokyo Paralympics. A year after the Tokyo meeting, Oluwafemiayo said she couldn’t have lifted the 152 kg weight and won the medal without the “help of God.”
“I thank God because it was God all this way. Not by my own power, but by the power of God. He was giving me grace and I give Him the admiration for standing right behind me. I’ve been asking for this from God, and He gave it to me,” said Oluwafemiayo during the 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The journey to be a Paralympic gold medallist and a world record holder has been fraught with challenges for Oluwafemiayo who contracted polio when she was three years old and has been confined to a wheelchair for the better part of her life. In an interview with the BBC, Oluwafemiayo said her dream of pursuing nursing was cut short due to discrimination but she reluctantly joined para powerlifting thanks to her uncle who encouraged her and offered to coach her.
Her first participation in the paralympics in London 2012 saw her win a silver medal. However, a series of events almost ended Oluwafemiayo’s sporting career. After losing a pregnancy in 2013, she was hospitalized and put on medication that is restricted for athletes.
Consequently, she was banned from the sport for two years. Oluwafemiayo also missed the Rio Paralympics in 2016 as she was expecting her second child together with her paralympic husband Tolu-Lope Taiwo.
“My source of inspiration is my husband…a big thank you to him. He has been my backbone. I want to make Africa proud, Nigeria proud, myself and my family,” said Oluwafemiayo who is confident that Paris won’t be her last olympic competition.
Oluwafemiayo will be up against tough competition from Ukraine’s Natalia Oliinyk and China’s Feifei Zheng, both olympic medallists and world record holders at different times. But the Nigeria team captain is up to the challenge and will be in good company of the Nigerian powerlifting team that has dominated two out of the three previous paralympics. Team Nigeria won the most gold medals in London 2012 and Rio 2016 while China took the podium in Tokyo 2020.
As of 3 September 2024, China was leading the paralympics powerlifting standing with 36 gold medals followed by Nigeria with 25 golds then Egypt with 22 gold medals. Nigeria’s Esther Nworgu won silver in the 41kg category coming second to China’s Zhei Cui on 4 September. Oluwafemiayo’s category is slated to take place on 8 September 2024 at the La Chapelle Arena.
