31st August, 2012
Nigeria’s Yakubu Adesokan, who twice broke his own world record yesterday to win a gold medal in the Powerlifting event of London 2012 Paralympic Games, has fulfilled his promise to Nigeria.
The 33-year-old travelled to London 2012 as the favourite for glory in the men’s -48kg class, having claimed a world record earlier this year in Dubai with a lift of 177kg.
Adesokan did not only live up to his reputation by breaking Ruel Ishaku’s Paralympic record of 169kg from Beijing 2008 by three kilos in his first lift, the disabled athlete realised his Paralympic ambition in London.
Before he travelled to London, Adesokan said: “I won a gold medal in the 44.8kg Powerlifting event for Team Nigeria at the Delhi 2010 Commonwealth Games held in India, and I’m going to work hard to do the same in London. That is one dream I will like to achieve in life.”
He has achieved that already. The Ibadan-born athlete broke his own world record with a lift of 178kg in just his second attempt in London yesterday. That record only lasted a matter of minutes, though, as Adesokan went on to lift 180kg – almost four times his own bodyweight – to take gold in style.
‘I feel overjoyed,’ he said. ‘I went through a lot of training. I have been training for two months in Korea.
‘Once I went through that training, there was no way I was going to fail.
‘I can definitely lift more. It is a lot but what I usually lift in training is more than this, like 192kg.’
Adesokan was joined on the podium by Russia’s Vladimir Balynetc, who won silver with a lift of 170kg, while Taha Abdelmagid of Egypt took bronze with 165kg.
