Folashade Oluwafemiayo still hungry for world records at third Paralympics: ‘I want to make Africa proud’
The Nigerian para powerlifter is at Paris 2024 to defend her women's over-86kg title and represent Africa on the global stage.
Even after two Paralympic Games, Folashade Oluwafemiayo still wants more.
The Nigerian powerlifting athlete has a gold and silver medal to her name after making her debut at London 2012, and at 39, her motivation is no less weak to write history and bring more success in the sport to her nation.
Nigeria have topped the para-powerlifting table at two of the last three Games, especially dominating on the women’s side of the sport.
In 2013, Oluwafemiayo was banned for two years for testing positive for a banned substance. She then missed Rio 2016 through pregnancy, before returning five years later to win gold at Tokyo 2020.
She arrives in the French capital as Nigeria's recently appointed general captain for Paris 2024, with the clear objective of defending her Olympic women’s over 86kg title.
She told BBC Sport Africa, “Winning these medals means a lot to me. It makes me feel among my other colleagues – I don’t feel discriminated. What an able body can do, I can do it too. I want to make Africa proud, Nigeria proud, myself, family and my federation.”
Oluwafemiayo uses a wheelchair after contracting polio at just three years old. She holds the elite world record in her discipline, lifting 165kg at the 2024 World Para Powerlifting World Cup in Tbilisi, Georgia.
“This won't be my last Paralympic Games,” she stated, “I'm still training for more and I'm targeting for more world records. It's not easy because the last qualifier I went for in Tbilisi, it was hot. [Zheng Feifei and Nataliia Oliinyk] were trying to break my record. So, we follow ourselves closely.”
Oluwafemiayo is competing on the last day (8 September) of Paris 2024 in the women’s over-86kg final.