Lucy Ogechukwu Ejike (born 16 October 1977) is a Nigerian Paralympic

powerlifter Powerlifting is a competitive strength sport that consists of three attempts at maximal weight on three lifts: squat, bench press, and deadlift. As in the sport of Olympic weightlifting, it involves the athlete attempting a maximal weight singl ...

. She has represented her country at six consecutive

Paralympic Games The Paralympic Games or Paralympics is a periodic series of international multisport events involving athletes with a range of disability, disabilities. There are Winter Paralympic Games, Winter and Summer Paralympic Games, which since the 1988 ...

from 2000 in Sydney through to

2021 in Tokyo 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

. She has won medals at each, three gold, two silver and one bronze. She won a further silver medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth games women's lightweight category of the Para Powerlifting event behind compatriot

Esther Oyema Esther Oyema (born 20 April 1982) is a Nigerian powerlifter. Oyema competed in the women's 61 kg event at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a gold medal and set a new world record by lifting 122.4 kg in the heavyweight category. I ...

Personal history

Ejike was born in

Enugu Enugu () verbally pronounced as "Enụgwụ" by the Igbo indigenes is a state in the South-East geopolitical zone of Nigeria, bordered to the north by the states of Benue and Kogi, Ebonyi State to the east and southeast, Abia State to the so ...

, Nigeria, in 1977. Ejike uses a wheelchair due to

polio Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe ...

Ejike is married and she has two sons. She lives in the state of

where she works as a sports administrator.

Powerlifting career

Ejike began training as a powerlifter shortly before the

2000 Summer Paralympics The 2000 Summer Paralympic Games or the XI Summer Paralympics were held in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, between 18 and 29 October. The Sydney Paralympics was the last time that the Summer Paralympics were organized by two different Organ ...

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

. At the Sydney Games she competed in the 44 kg weight class taking the silver medal with a lift of 102.5 kg, behind

Fatma Omar Fatma Omar (born 17 November 1973) is an Egyptian powerlifter competing in the -56 kg category. She is a dominant power in her sport, winning gold in her event in four Summer Paralympics, and another four gold medals at the IPC Powerlifting ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Four years later at the Athens Games, while competing at the same weight class, she broke the

Paralympic powerlifting Paralympic powerlifting, also known as para powerlifting and para-lifting, is an adaptation of the sport of powerlifting for athletes with disabilities. The only discipline in Paralympic powerlifting is the bench press. The sport is governed by ...

world record twice on the way to winning the gold medal with a lift of 127.5 kg. At the 2008 Beijing Games, Ejike moved up one weight class and took gold in the 48 kg event. She broke the world record with her first attempt, lifting 125 kg. She broke the record again with a second lift of 130 kg, but faltered while trying to lift 137.5 kg on her third attempt. After her win in Beijing, Ejike stated that has intentions of moving up another weight to set a new world record in a third class. This led to a showdown at the

2012 Summer Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international Multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Sum ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

with her rival from Athens, and current 56 kg world record holder, Fatma Omar. Ejike took the lead in the first round with a lift of 135 kg but she was unable to better this attempt, while Omar bettered her record from Beijing with a final lift of 142 kg. Despite failing to beat Omar, the two women were a class above the rest of the field, and Ejike took silver, 17 kg over bronze medalist

Özlem Becerikli Özlem Becerikli (born 21 March 1980, in Balıkesir, Turkey) is a Turkish powerlifter of Paralympic powerlifting classification, class PO competing in the -56 kg division, and a Paralympian. She is a member of the Kocaeli Büyükşehir Be ...

of Turkey. Four years later Ejike and Omar met for the third time at a Paralympic Games, when thy both entered the 2016 Games in Rio. After London the

International Paralympic Committee The International Paralympic Committee (IPC; ) is an international non-profit organisation and the global governing body for the Paralympic Movement. The IPC organizes the Paralympic Games and functions as the international federation for nin ...

changed the powerlifting weight categories for both men and women, and the two competed in the women's 61 kg division. The year previous Mexico's

Amalia Perez Amalia may refer to: People *Amalia (given name), feminine given name (includes a list of people so named) *Princess Amalia (disambiguation), several princesses with this name Films and television series * ''Amalia'' (1914 film), the first ...

had set a world record in the 61 kg with a lift of 133 kg, which Ejike surpassed with her first lift of 135 kg. Omar had failed at 133 kg on her first lift, but was successful at the same weight on her second attempt. Ejike improved her lead with her second lift, setting her second world record of the day with a weight of 138 kg. Omar responded with a final lift of 140 kg, putting Ejike into silver medal place. With her final attempt Ejike succeeded with her third world record of the day, and the gold medal when she completed a lift of 142 kg to make her a three time gold medal winner. As well as her gold medal success, Ejike was also honoured at Rio by being selected by her country to be the

flag bearer A standard-bearer, also known as a colour-bearer or flag-bearer, is a person who bears an emblem known as a standard or military colours, i.e. either a type of flag or an inflexible but mobile image, which is used (and often honoured) as a ...

at the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly constructed location or the start of an event.

. She competed at the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, were an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that was held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

where she won a silver medal in the

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing (sport), rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) boxing weight classes, weight class in the spor ...

event. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

she had to stay at home and she reported that this affected her ability to train. She did take another gold at the World Championships in 2021 in Manchester where the athletes were not allowed to eat at a restaurant together because of the pandemic restrictions. Ejike was chosen as part of Nigeria's team for the

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport event, multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the Inte ...

in Tokyo where she planned to gain more gold medals and to break her own world record. She won the bronze medal in the women's 61 kg event at the

held in Tokyo, Japan. A few months later, she won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships held in Tbilisi, Georgia.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ejike, Lucy Ogechukwu 1977 births Living people Nigerian female weightlifters Paralympic powerlifters for Nigeria Nigerian female powerlifters Paralympic gold medalists for Nigeria Paralympic silver medalists for Nigeria Paralympic bronze medalists for Nigeria Paralympic medalists in powerlifting Powerlifters at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Powerlifters at the 2020 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2000 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2004 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2020 Summer Paralympics African Games bronze medalists for Nigeria African Games bronze medalists in weightlifting Weightlifters at the 2015 African Games Sportspeople from Enugu 20th-century Nigerian women 21st-century Nigerian sportswomen Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Nigeria Commonwealth Games medallists in powerlifting Powerlifters at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games