Julius OkorieTeam Nigeria on Sunday September 8, 2024 , finished 40th on the medal table as the 2024 Paralympics Games came to an end in Paris.
The Nigerian team accumulated 7 medals made up two gold, three silver, and two bronze medals.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelTeam Nigeria’s Captain, Folashade Oluwafemiayo, put an icing on the cake on Sunday, setting a new world record in the women’s over 86kg Para-powerlifting category, and becoming the first Para-athlete in history to lift 166kg.
Deng Xuemei of China took silver, while Egypt’s Nadia Ali claimed bronze.
Her remarkable achievement brings Nigeria’s total medal count at the Paralympics to seven. She surpassed her previous world record of 165kg, adding a gold medal to her historic lift.
As Team Nigeria’s captain for Paris 2024, Oluwafemiayo had earlier won gold at the Tokyo 2020 Games and silver at the London 2012 Games.
She missed the Rio 2016 Games due to pregnancy but made a triumphant return five years later, clinching gold at Tokyo 2020.
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Oluwafemiayo is not a new comer to record breaking. In 2021, she won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships held in Tbilisi, Georgia. At this event, she also set a new world record of 152.5 kg.
She was also at the 2022 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal in the heavyweight event. In the course of her career in Para- Powerlifting, she has accumulated six gold medals and Silver between 2017 and 2024 at different Championships.
China finished on top with 220 medals, including 94 golds. Great Britain finished second with 49 golds while USA took the third spot with 36 golds.
India won seven gold, nine silver and 13 bronze medals to achieve their best-ever haul at a single edition of the Paralympic Games finishing 18th in the bargain.
Hosts France finished 8th with 75 medals including 19 gold. Algeria emerged the best from Africa with 11 medals made up 6 gold and 5 Bronze.
Julius Okorie is Chief Sports and Entertainment Correspondent for Prime Business Africa. He began his journalism career with the Champion Newspaper and Sporting Champion and later moved on to Daily Independent and the Nation Newspapers. Okorie joined Prime Business Africa in 2024 bringing on board 20 years of experience in writing investigative news on Sports and Entertainment. His well researched and highly informative articles on Sports Business and general entertainment are followed by a wide range of audience.
