Nigeria Paralympics team closed at closed Rio 2016 with eight golds, two silvers and two bronze medals to finish 17th in the medal table and top among African countries.
President Muhammadu Buhari on Monday through his Spokesperson Garba Shehu who wrote on his Facebook page said
“President Muhammadu Buhari warmly congratulates Nigeria’s team for an outstanding performance at the Paralympic games in Rio, Brazil. President Buhari joins all sports-loving Nigerians in commending the athletes for doing the country proud by winning 12 medals and setting new records, which made them the top-performing African team at the 2016 games. The President extols the resilient spirit of the Nigerian Paralympic athletes, who were able to excel in the face of adversity. President Buhari applauds the athletes for their tenacity, focus and determination, which has brought glory to the country. The President also extends gratitude to all the officials and trainers of the Paralympic athletes, who made sacrifices and persevered to fly the country’s colours.”
Oluwashina Okeleji in a report for BBC Sport examines the country’s extraordinary dominance in powerlifting.
Here are some excerpts from the report:
“Compare that with the performance of Nigeria’s able-bodied Olympians a few weeks earlier, who brought home just one bronze medal, finishing a lowly 78th in the Rio 2016 medal table.
Their success is all the more remarkable when you consider the difficulty and discrimination that many disabled people face in Nigeria.
For Nigerians hoping to catch a medal-winning Paralympian moment this summer, there was one sport worth tuning in for: powerlifting.
The flurry of medals (six gold, two silver, one bronze) won in this “supreme test of upper-body strength and technique”, as the organisers describe it, accounted for all but three of Nigeria’s Paralympic medals.
For anyone baffled by this national powerlifting prowess, a single name is often given by way of explanation: Are Feyisetan.
Dubbed “king of the physically challenged”, Nigeria’s national powerlifting coach is a passionate advocate for disabled sport.
A former champion power lifter himself, Feyisetan also formed the national amputee football team in 2002.
Powerlifting, he tells me, is more than just a sport for those he trains. It provides “an opportunity to pull these athletes away from stigmatisation and help them in conquering poverty”.
“People expect a disabled person to beg on the streets but they are breaking those stereotypes. Many people forget that some of these guys had a normal life before accidents crippled them – so they turn to powerlifting to forge another life.”
The remarkable success of Nigeria’s powerlifters comes despite poor training facilities and a lack of financial backing.
Much of the country’s Paralympic infrastructure, dating back to 1990, has seen better days.
The athletes train on broken benches, inside the dark and dilapidated National Stadium in Lagos, the sprawling commercial capital, where congested streets are difficult to navigate even for the able-bodied.
Despite the incredible achievements of those he has trained and in some cases funded himself, Feyisetan says that his athletes are left in a precarious position because of the way disabled sport is undervalued in Nigeria.
Football is the number one sport in Nigeria and support for the national team is probably the one thing that pulls Nigerians together irrespective of ethnicity, religion or politics.
The contrast between the country’s football team and its Paralympians could not be more stark.”
Photos: Reuters
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