Dr. Ibrahim Abdul, President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF), noted that significant lessons were learned from Nigeria’s performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
He praised the efforts of weightlifters Rafiatu Folashade Lawal and Joy Ogbonne Eze, who performed commendably but narrowly missed out on medals.
Lawal, competing in the women’s 59kg category, finished 5th overall, lifting a personal best with a combined total of 230kg—100kg in the snatch and 130kg in the clean and jerk.
She was just 11kg away from the gold medalist, Luo Shifang of China who clinched the revered accolade with 241kg lift total and barely 5kg off the medals zone with Charron Maude of Canada winning the silver with a total of 235kg while 30 years Taiwanese Amis weightlifter, Kuo Hsing-Chun won Bronze with 235kg total.
For Eze who was the 2019 and 2023 Africa Games champion her 101kg lift in snatch and 131kg lift in clean & jerk with a total of 231kg, were not enough to land her in the medals zone as she ended her campaign 7th overall in her debut Olympic Games.
The NWF President said that with better preparations and more exposure ahead of future competitions, the two lifters and their contemporaries have what it takes to excel in the sport.
He thanked the President Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for the release of funds for the Olympic Games while commending the hard work of the Sports Ministry headed by Senator John Enoh and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) with Engineer Habu Gumel in charge.
“It was not the Olympic Games we dreamt of but I must commend my both Weightlifters for their commendable outing in Paris. Rafiatu Lawal was very close to securing medal while Joy Eze also tried her best,” Dr Abdul told the NWF Media.
“What we have learnt from the Olympics is that we have to prepare better and expose our lifters to more international competitions for them to regularly compete with the best. It was an opener for us as a Federation and we shall work on it ahead of future competitions.
“I must specially thank the President of the country, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu for his love for sports and the release of funds for the Olympics. The Sports Ministry with Senator John Enoh in full charge did a good job too and the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) headed by Engineer Habu Gumel ensured all sports were properly coordinated during the games.”
Dr Abdul assures that the NWF will soon do a post-mortem of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games and proffer a way forward to ensure the country Weightlifters get the best of attention for upcoming competitions.
