Further Personal Information |
Higher education |
Physical Education - Kaduna State Polytechnic: Nigeria |
Sport Specific Information |
Why this sport? |
"I decided to become a weightlifter because of the intimidation from boys. I felt I needed to earn some respect from males and let them know that women can be like them too." |
When and where did you begin this sport? |
She has been involved in the sport since 2007. |
Further Personal Information |
Languages |
English |
General Interest |
Nicknames |
Heavyweight (Athlete, 18 Nov 2010) |
Sporting philosophy / motto |
"There's nothing wrong in knowing what you want and having the guts to go for it." (Facebook profile, 05 Aug 2017) |
Further Personal Information |
Family |
Son Abdullah |
General Interest |
Awards and honours |
She was the flag bearer for Nigeria at the opening ceremony of the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. (GNS, 24 Jul 2014) |
Sport Specific Information |
Club / Team |
Team Kaduna: Nigeria |
Further Personal Information |
Occupation |
Athlete |
General Interest |
Hobbies |
Sport development, youth and women empowerment. (Facebook page, 08 Jun 2017) |
Injuries |
She struggled with an injured wrist at the 2012 Olympic Games in London. (ikengachronicles.com, 18 Nov 2016) |
Memorable sporting achievement |
Being awarded the bronze medal for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. (punchng.com, 05 Nov 2017) |
International Debut |
Year |
2007 |
Competing for |
Nigeria |
Tournament |
All Africa Games |
Location |
Algiers, ALG |
General Interest |
Other information |
BELATED MEDAL She was presented with a bronze medal for the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing in September 2017. Although she had finished fifth at the Games, due to doping violations she was upgraded to become an Olympic bronze medallist. (vanguardngr.com, 10 Sep 2017)
CLEAN SPORT She is a vocal campaigner against drug use in sports, and has been teaching younger generations about the dangers of using drugs in sports. "A lot more work needs to be done to completely eradicate the use of drugs in sports. Athletes should also be educated on time because some athletes get doped ignorantly. Regular education about banned substances and drugs should be given to athletes." (punchng.com, 05 Nov 2017) |