Connectnigeria Articles

By Obi Martins Okafor.

Our Olympians might have come back from the Olympic Games early, but the team Nigeria for the Paralympics Games have shown no such intensions, as a matter of fact, they have won 4 gold medals from the one going games in London. One of Nigeria’s Gold medalist is 30 year-old Oyema, who lifted 135kg, to set a new world record in the women’s -48kg category. She simply blew away her competitors as her closest rival, Olesya Lafina of Russia, who managed to lift 120kg. Oyema, who was emotional while celebrating her record breaking feat, said that what she achieved in London was a product of her undying drive for excellence. “Hard work pays. I thank God that I succeeded when people had written me off. Thanks to God and I would continue trying to be better each day”, she told reporters. Bolstered by the heroics of Oyema, Onaolopo, who was the next Nigerian to compete in the power-lifting event, put up a breathtaking performance in the women’s -52kg, with a 131kg world record haul, which gave her a gold medal and also set a new world record in her event. So far, power-lifting has fetched Nigeria all the medals at the Games. As at last night, Nigeria had four gold and three silver medals to place seventh on the medal table. China was leading with 15 gold, 11 silver and 17 bronze medals while Great Britain and Australia were second and third respectively with nine gold medals each, although Britain has won 14 silver while the Aussies has 5.