| In 2007, not a few Nigerians wondered at what persons with height impairment were doing at the National Stadium, Lagos. They had not seen these category of people in elite sports. But they were preparing for the Algiers 2007 All Africa Games. Among them was Lauritta Onye. She had come to Lagos from Amaimo, Ikeduru, Imo State, to seek a possible role in Nollywood, having seen some of her likes in music and films. Along the line, someone introduced her to sports, informing her that there is a huge place for people like her in international sports. So, she began training and after two weeks, she was invited to the national trials in Ibadan where she made the team selection to the 2007 All Africa Games. On landing in Algiers, she learnt that her category had been cancelled from the games as, by the rules, not up to five countries registered for the events. It was a huge disappointment, a near rejection, but it wasn’t the end of her hopes. The next edition of the games, Maputo 2011, provided her the opportunity to continue the dream and she returned with a silver medal. From that point, the world beckoned on her. She proceeded to win one gold, one silver in Shot Put and Discus Throw at the Tunisia 2015 Africa Championships held in March, setting a world record of 7.59 metres in Shot Put. In October of same year, she won Shot Put gold at the World Championships in Doha, Qatar, with a qualifying ticket to the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games, also breaking her record in Tunisia with a new distance of 7.72 metres. Rio was tricky but, at last, there was a place for just one event, Shot Put, in her F40 category. She seized the chance and threw the world to a farther distance. She did 7.73 metres in her first throw, immediately breaking her Doha 2015 world record of 7.72 metres. But Lauritta had other ideas. She not only wanted gold, she wanted her name in the roll of legends, so she finished up with a mystifying new world and Paralympic Games record of 8.40 metres, summarily dismissing any challenge from the rest of the field. While the world remains amazed at her feat, it did not know that Lauritta embarked on the journey with a heavy heart and also returned home to a further disturbing disappointment. Before the Paralympics, President Buhari had in February 2016 rewarded various sports men who won medals at different international competitions, including a throw back to the 1985 national U-16 football team which won the first FIFA championship, but her name was excluded, disregarding the fact that she won gold and set a world record at the 2015 IPC World Championships. She was invited to the Aso Rock reception alright. Her name, photograph and achievements were listed in the event brochure. She shook hands with the President, but there was no cash reward for her. The officials said they mistakenly left out her name in the list submitted to the President for cash rewards and because the President had signed off on it, it was difficult for them to recall the list and include her. That has never been remedied. After the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Imo State Government rewarded its indigenes who won medals at the events with a car and cash gift of about N1m each. Again, she was not included. Two different excuses were given: that she lives in Lagos, not Imo, which in any case cannot invalidate her origin, and that she returned late from the Games even though it wasn’t her making that she was booked to return with the second batch. She struggled to make the government see reasons, including staying in a hotel in Owerri for about two weeks at her expense, to enable her reach the government but she was ignored. Notwithstanding, Lauritta is back in the field training ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games. She is looking at improving her world and games record with a further distance from her standing 8.40 metres and also vie for honours in Discus Throw. When she achieves that next year, the record will be difficult to break in long years to come. She was at the last zonal Para Athletics trial in Enugu and she showed she was still in form but mostly through personal efforts in training. She recently missed out on the world championships in London for lack of funds. Still, she is hungry for more glory, promoting her to call on the government and the corporate community to support the Paralympic athletes to enable them prepare better to win more laurels and bring more glory to Nigeria from the Tokyo 2020 Games. “Since we returned from the Rio Games, we have not had the opportunity of participating in other competitions. This is not good for us. We have to constantly be in shape. Even regular training is difficult as we have to do that at our expense, including transportation to and from training and other needs. It makes it all difficult for us. It doesn’t help much to just call us to camp few days to an international competition. We need to have longer camping to ensure that we prepare without distractions from home and the strain of providing for ourselves,” Lauritta told Sportstalkafrica.com. “Still, we are focused on doing well at the events ahead seeing that sports has provided us a place in the global stage to achieve honour and bring glory our country. As we speak, the qualification competitions for the Olympics and Paralympics have started. We are billed to be in Tunisia in June. After that there are the world championships in France in August and in Dubai in November. After that we proceed to the first ever Africa Para Sports Games in Morocco by January 2020. All the events are qualifiers at which we need to increase our slots to the Paralympics to expand our potentials to win more medals.” Outside the field, Lauritta is just human with a good taste for romance. Her father, a tall and handsome man, is her model of a partner, she once revealed to the Sun. “I like tall men, men over five feet. My father was a tall man. I want a man like him.” ReplyForward |
Lauritta Onye: Born for glory, by Fred Edoreh
By tech