Golden Moments In Sport: When Laurrita Onye Broke The World Record Twice In One Event

Laurrita Onye was the star of the show in the women’s Shot put F40 event at the 2016 Rio Paralympics, where she defied all odds to win Nigeria’s first Track and Field medal on Day 4 of the competition. Onye was clearly on a class of her own — breaking two World Records (WR) in the same event, as she put a great distance between herself and her opponents in the field event. In her first throw of 7.83m, the Nigerian broke her WR of 7.72m set at the 2015 IPC World Athletics Championships in Doha. Onye’s second throw, however, was not as indulging as her first, with a distance of 7.54m, while her third throw only went further by 1cm.

In her fourth attempt, Onye let it all out on the field with a brisk throw of 8.40m to secure the gold medal in the event, and shatter her previously set WR. No other para-athlete in the event could match up to Onye’s worst throw, with Tunisia’s Rima Abdelli bagging the silver medal on a best throw of 7.37m. While Netherland’s Lara Baars made a best throw of 7.12m to take home the bronze medal. Onye’s medal was Nigeria’s only medal in the event at the games.   Featured Image Source: Moji Delano

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This article was first published on 12th December 2018

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