Josephine Orji
Nigerian power-lifter, Josephine Orji, shattered the world record of the women’s -+86kg power-lifting event at the ongoing 2016 Paralympics Games in Rio, Brazil with a lift of 154kg to win the gold medal. The gold medal is Nigeria’s eighth at the 2016 Paralympics. Team Nigeria is in the 10th position on the overall medals table with eight gold, two silver and one bronze.
Orji’s performance capped the brilliant performance of Team Nigeria’s special athletes at the Games. The fair complexioned Nigerian lady who was sure of her capacity opted to enter the battle with the other competitors on a frightening scale. She entered the contest with 151kg lift, a weight that was far beyond the capacity of any other competitor in her category. The only other lifter who came close, is Egypt’s Nadya Ali, who failed in all her three attempts to lift 145kg.
Twice she failed to lift the 154kg but cheered on by her teammates and Technical Adviser, Areh Feyisetan, Orji dug deep into her inner strength in the third attempt to surmount the obstacle thus the world record.
Congratulations Josephine!
