London – Nigerian
power-lifter, Folashade
Olufemiayo yesterday
set a new world record
in the women 75kg
power- lifting event of the London 2012
Paralympics Games, but
she failed to win the
gold medal. Chinese Fu Toaying won
the gold that should
have been Olufemiayo’s
medal. The cheering
crowd rooting for
Olufemiayo couldn’t believe she won silver
after she lead with her
two previous attempts.
However, Nigerian
officials cried blue
murder at the high level politicking, but their
ineptitude was also
blamed for the loss that
left Olufemiayo in a
river of tears. Folashade Oluwafemiayo of Nigeria wins the Silver medal in the women’s -75 kg Powerlifting on Day 5 of the London 2012 Paralympic Games at ExCeL The Chinese officials
played a fast one, by
having their athlete
come first for the final
and third lift, when it
became clear that Olufemiayo who was
scheduled to come out
first would win on the
final attempt. Taoaying
with a body weight of
72.53kg went on to lift 146kg in her final
attempt, to set up a near
world record;
Olufemiayo stepped out
and reproduced the
146kg. Officially, after the three attempts the
competition was over,
but the athletes
continued with the
battle for supremacy
and Olufemiayo lifted 148kg in her final
attempt to set a new
world record, but it
wasn’t going to count. “That was my gold
medal that was given to
the Chinese woman.
And I would want to
say that I’m more than
disappointed that this could be happening. I
was supposed to come
out first for the final lift,
but they changed the
schedule and made
Taoying come out first,” said Olufemiayo, with
teary eyes. However, an
international power-
lifting official who
pleaded anonymity
traced Olufemiayo’s
ordeal to the lack of tact by Nigerian officials. “The Chinese coach
knew that her girl didn’t
stand a chance and she
called out first for an
increase in weight of
146kg and that was why she had to come
out first. “If the Nigerian officials
were thinking they
would have increased
the weight of their
athlete to 147kg for the
final attempt, but they didn’t. However, the
attempt on 146kg by
the Chinese was not a
perfect lift that is where
I disagree with the
judges,” said the official. Nigerian team doctor,
Samuel Ogbodeminu
lamented the situation
and said that it was an
international conspiracy
against Nigeria. “They want to prevent
us from winning more
medals. The third Chinese
lift wasn’t a good one,
yet it was allowed. We
protested, but it was bound to fail, we are
very upset and what
could we do.” Lucy Ejike also failed to
win gold under similar
circumstances in the
women -56kg category
on Sunday. That
notwithstanding Nigeria’s still tops the
power- lifting medal
table with 4 gold, 5
silver and one bronze
won by veteran Victoria
Nneji. In the overall medals table Nigeria is in
the 10th position. Source www.vanguardngr.com/2012/09/nigerian-breaks-world-record-but-cant-get-gold/

shouldnt the Nigerian officials be blamed for her loss?!