Weightlifting: Nigeria fails to clinch bronze in women’s 59 kg
One of Nigeria’s weightlifters at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Rafiatu Lawal came so close to getting a bronze medal but missed out on third place by 5kg overall”
Lawal missed out on a podium finish in women’s 59 kg weightlifting, finishing fifth in the event with a total lift of 230 kg in the Snatch and Clean and Jerk.
She gave it all by smashing her Personal Best
(PB) in the Clean and Jerk by 5 kg.
She has won only two medals in weightlifting since the start of her participation in the four year competition in Helsinki, Finland in 1952.
Lawal who has ruled Africa and Commonwealth Games in successive competitions booked a ticket to the Paris 2024 Olympic Games in France in the 59kg. while Joy Eze is also through to the Olympics in the 71kg having also dominated Africa in her weight class.
Lawal lifted a combined total lift of 227kg, with a snatch of 101kg as well as 126kg in Clean and Jerk in the 2024 IWF World Championship in Thailand set a new African record in the women’s 59kg and also picked her Olympics ticket.
She had set a Games record of 206kg from her snatch and clean and jerk lifts at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the women’s 59kg weightlifting.
