Bose Omolayo shattered her own World Record (WR) and set a new one of 138kg to win Nigeria’s sixth GOLD medal at the ongoing Rio 2016 Paralympic Games.
Coming into the competition as the firm favourite to win, Omolayo lived up to the expectation, but she was given a strong fight by China’s Lili Hu who won Silver with a lift of 135kg.
Meanwhile Chinese Taipei’s Tzu-Hui Lin left to late to win Bronze with her very last attempt, lifting 131kg to pip Mexico’s Perla Barcenas who thought she had earned it at 126kg.
Omolayo who wanted to equal her WR came into the competition at 137kg in her first attempt, however she failed to match her 2015 feat as she did not fully stretch out her arms while lifting it.
With Hu going past her and setting a new Paralympics record of 135kg in her second attempt, Omolayo was under pressure to respond, and she did come up big, ditching her previous aim of 137kg as she went for 138kg.
She got the attempt and went up to 1st place. That led to a battle of wits with Hu as they were both gunning for the GOLD. Omolayo went for 145kg but on seeing that Hu has failed at 140kg and with the win assured, she reduced the weight to 141kg, although she failed it.
However there was no denying her GOLD as she added to Nigeria’s medal tally, following in the paths of her compatriot Ndidi Nwosu to win her country’s 2nd GOLD of Day 5.
That’s impressive