While there were no additional medals for Team Nigeria in their last
events on Saturday, the country’s special athletes have done enough to
be celebrated for their heroics in Rio.
Having left for the 2016
Paralympics without any fanfare and on the heels of another
disappointing Olympic Games show, the physically-challenged athletes
lifted spirits high in Rio where they amassed a dozen medals.
Eight
of the total haul was gold while there were two silver as well as two
bronze medals in the kitty. These may just see Nigeria finish as the top
African team at the 2016 Paralympics.
The medals gathered also
looked good enough to guarantee Nigeria her best ever placement in the
Paralympics; the highest mark being the 22nd position achieved in Sydney
2000.
As
at Sunday morning, Nigeria was 16th on the medal table and number one
in Africa. The competition ends on Sunday when Nigeria will not be
participating in any event.
Six Nigerian athletes broke the World
Records (WR) in their events, in some instances they did it twice or
thrice while still competing to win Gold.
Powerlifting and athletics accounted for the WRs.
Some
of the gold medal winners include Ezuruike Roland, Kehinde Paul, Ejike
Lucy, Onye Lauritta, Nwosu Ndidi, Omolayo Bose, Ugwunwa Flora, and Orji
Josephine.
The silver medalists are Tijani Latifat and Oyema Esther while Innocent Nnamdi and Iyiazi Eucharia won bronze.
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