As part of our advocacy, #OneAccesibility, we will share information about differently-abled persons,activities and profile locations with accessible trails. Look out every week for this enlightening post.
Caption: A photo showing some Nigerian Paralympians at Rio 2016 (Credit Precious Orji)
The Olympic games are held every four years. Tokyo 2020 Olympics was scheduled to hold from July to August, but has been shifted to 2021 due to Coronavirus pandemic.
Paralympics: Powerlifting
In 1960, the first Paralympic games were held in Rome. It was hosted in the same venues as the Olympics. Four hundred athletes from 20 countries competed in the inaugural Paralympic event. There are six disability types currently allowed to compete at the games; they include Spinal Injury, Amputee, Vision Impairment, Cerebral Palsy, Les Autres and Intellectual Disability. Just like the Olympics, there are Summer and Winter Paralympics.
The London 2012 recorded the highest number of countries at the Paralympics with 164 nations in attendance. Meanwhile, Rio 2016 hosted more athletes numbering 4,328 participating in a record 22 sporting activities. For the first time in Atlanta 1996, more than 100 countries attended the games to vie for laurels; the same year more disabilities were added to compete in sports. One of my favourite games at the Paralympics is powerlifting.
Powerlifting/Weightlifting
The first four Paralympics featured athletes with spinal cord injuries only. Weightlifting was added to the Paralympic sports at the Tokyo 1964 games.
Powerlifting is a sport that requires an athlete to lift weight bars for a given period of time. There are three types of powerlifiting - squat, bench press and dead-lift. For Paralympians the bench press is the only option available. Athletes are required to lay on the barbell benchpress while using their upper body parts and arms to lift dumbbells. This is similar to body building exercises done in gyms.
Caption: Photo collage showing Nigeria team and two World Record Holders (Credit: Precious Orji and Lauritta Onye)
Medals and Records
Nigeria won nine medals at the Beijing 2008 games, 13 medals at London 2012 and 12medals at Rio 2016. Aside from winning medals, Nigerians created new world records in Powerlifting becoming the most successful African team in 2016. Six out of the eight gold medals were won by Powerlifting Paralympians.
Two athletes I know, fortunately, are record holders and they train at these facilities in Lagos and Owerri. Josephine Orji became the strongest woman in the world when she lifted a 160kg weight and Laurita Onye broke the records for shot put with an 8.04m throw.
Para Powerlifting include
2019 - Folashade Oluwafemiayo (150kg)
2019 – Bose Omolayo (142kg)
2018 – Paul Kehinde (221kg)
2018 – Esther Onyema (131kg)
2016 – Lucy Ejike (142kg)
2016 - Josephine Orji (160kg)
Future Paralympics:
Just like the Olympics, the Paralympic games have been scheduled ahead of time to enable host cities and countries prepare for the global event. International Paralympic Committee has designated Tokyo 2020 (now Tokyo 2021), Beijing 2022 and Paris 2024. From the changes seen over the years, it is expected that more sports will be included in the game to accommodate more disabilities.
Have you attended any Paralympic Games, visited an Olympic Stadium or know any world record holder? Do share your experience with us.
If you have a question, suggestion or contribution, feel free to comment below. You can read last week’s roundup article here and check the list of our other articles under “Accessibility Uncovered”.
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