‘What an able body can do, I can do’ - Nigeria's powerlifting power

Folashade Oluwafemiayo is someone who knows how to be strong.

The 39-year-old wheelchair user is part of Nigeria’s hugely successful para-powerlifting squad that has topped the sport’s medal table at two of the last three Paralympic Games.

It is the country’s women who have driven most of that success; three years ago in Tokyo they won all six of the nation’s powerlifting medals.

One of those was the gold claimed by Oluwafemiayo in the 86kg category, but her backstory is one that has tested her strength in other ways and could have led to a very different life.

“My ambition was to become a nurse,” she told BBC Sport Africa.

However, a family friend, who worked as a matron, discouraged her from applying and would not even help her lay hands on the application form.

For Oluwafemiayo, the discrimination cut deep.

“I was weeping and my mum consoled me. I wasn't happy because I felt (for) people with disability there's no life, they can’t get to where they want to go, they can’t do what they have in mind.

“Is it because of my disability that I can't become a nurse? I still have the ambition that I'm still going back for that nursing school.”

Polio and Coach John

A native of Jos, a large city in central Nigeria, Oluwafemiayo lost the use of her legs after catching polio aged three.

She admits that this made elements of her childhood tough.

“There is some play you want to play (but) because of your disability you cannot,” she explained.

“You will see your mate running, you cannot run. You have to be crawling on the ground. It's so painful.”

Her life changed course again as a teenager when her uncle introduced her to para-sport.

In 1999, she started powerlifting at the Rwang Pwam Stadium in Jos – although her initial experiences did not immediately win her over.

“I was not serious about it,” she admitted, before explaining how one coach in particular, John Oguntoye, saw her potential.

“The first day, I lifted like 80kg. So, he was like ‘You are very strong, you will be good in this game’.

“But because of the pain, I couldn't go there. The following day, I ran away."

Luckily, Oguntoye did not give up, even visiting Oluwafemiayo’s home to encourage her.

Going back to the gym is a decision she does not regret.

“I followed him and I met so many people there who are living with disability. So that was how I started powerlifting.”

The encounter was life changing and she has been part of the Nigerian national team since 2010.

Doping scandal

Folashade Oluwafemiayo won silver at her first Paralympic Games in London, but her success was soon overshadowed by scandal

In 2012, Oluwafemiayo competed in her first Paralympics in London.

During competition she broke a world record, but ultimately her performance was only good enough for silver in the 75kg category.

But a year later her sporting career was halted when she tested positive for furosemide, a banned substance classed as a diuretic and masking agent.

Oluwafemiayo was banned for two years.

"I had a miscarriage," she revealed. "I was rushed to the hospital and the doctor admitted a drug that he's not supposed to, because they never told him I was a sportsperson."

She then missed the 2016 Paralympics in Rio de Janeiro because of pregnancy.

But since returning to competition her trajectory has been stellar, with world, Commonwealth and Paralympic titles in the bag.

“Winning these medals means a lot to me. It makes me feel among my other colleagues – I don’t feel discriminated,” she said.

“What an able body can do, I can do it too.”

As she bids for more Paralympic glory in Paris, Oluwafemiayo has been named as the general captain of Team Nigeria.

She has gone up in weight for competition in the French capital, moving into the +86kg bracket – the heaviest category for women.

She will face stiff competition from the likes of China’s Zheng Feifei and Nataliia Oliinyk of Ukraine.

“It's not easy because the last qualifier I went for in Tbilisi, it was hot. The China girl and the Ukraine girl [Feifei and Oliinyk] were trying to break my record. So, we follow ourselves closely.”

‘I wake up at three in the morning’

Oluwafemiayo's husband Tolu-Lope Taiwo is also an international powerlifter

Now based in Lagos, Oluwafemiayo trains at the National Stadium Power Gym alongside some of Nigeria’s other elite powerlifters, such as two-time Paralympic champion Bose Omolayo.

“For me to get to the stadium is very difficult,” Oluwafemiayo explained. “I wake up by three in the morning.

“I have to take two bikes before getting to where I will take the vehicle that will take me to stadium.”

This dedication - and success that has followed - inspires her two young boys.

“My second boy will say, ‘Mummy, is this how you do your weight?’

“Sometimes, if I'm doing exercise at home, they will join me. They inspire me.”

While the boys might be budding powerlifters, the family already contains a second Paralympic star.

Oluwafemiayo’s husband Tolu-Lope Taiwo, also a wheelchair user, competed at both the 2012 and 2016 Games.

She describes him as another “source of inspiration” and her “backbone”.

“She impresses and inspires me,” Taiwo told BBC Sport Africa. “I am always proud of her and I boast that she is my wife.

“I always encourage her because at times when she lifts the weights and is discouraged, I always tell her ‘You can do it'.”

With powerlifting already a family affair, Oluwafemiayo is hoping to inspire the next generation so that Nigeria can retain its strong tradition in the sport.

“I want to make Africa proud,” the three-time world champion said. “Nigeria proud, myself, family and my federation.

“This won't be my last Paralympic Games. I'm still training for more and I'm targeting for more world records.”