Funmi Oduwaiye: Welsh thrower eyes Paris Paralympics after basketball dream fades
- Published
Funmi Oduwaiye competes in the F64 shot put and discus
Funmi Oduwaiye always believed she was destined for great things, but instead of proving it on a basketball court, she is targeting the 2024 Paris Paralympics discus and shot put.
The 20-year-old took up Para-athletics in 2022, following multiple surgeries to try to correct knock knees - a condition where there is a large gap between a person's feet when they are standing with their knees together.
"I [wanted] my leg to heal and then have an amazing story and go back to basketball," she said ahead of Sunday's International Day of Persons with Disabilities.
"I was definitely above average with my dedication to basketball. It was tough.
"Not even the thought of being able-bodied and now being disabled, I was an athlete.
"I wanted to pursue being a professional athlete as a career. In my head, I was like, 'there's no way I can do that'.
"I can't even feel my leg. I can't even move my leg. They're talking about cutting it off."
However, by July 2023 the Welsh competitor's transition to Para-athletics brought sixth in the F64 discus and fourth in the F64 shot put on her World Para Athletics Championships debut in Paris.
Traveller and influencer
"I'm living the athlete lifestyle. I can still travel, I can still have team-mates, I can still travel the world. That's what I always wanted to do," she said.
"The fact that I get to be one of those faces is crazy to me. I'm representing me and I'm doing well. I'm going to be one of those faces that people see and are influenced by.
"I always knew I was destined for great things, it was just I didn't know what I was destined to be great at.
"I thought it was basketball because that was working well, but little did I know that God closed one door and opened an even bigger one."
Oduwaiye also reflected on her journey to the event at which she now excels, featuring a conversation with her sister about Paralympic champion Jonnie Peacock while they were watching the documentary Rising Phoenix.
"That could be you," Oduwaiye was told by her sister as they watched Peacock in action. The Cardiff athlete admits her immediate response was, "God forbid".
Fast forward to Paris in July and Oduwaiye recalls meeting Peacock at mealtime.
"When I first met him, I didn't even realise because I was still trying to remember everyone, but I didn't know it was him until we started watching Rising Phoenix at the Championships and I was like, 'Wait! No way!'," she said.
Oduwaiye's basketball prowess - she played for Wales as a teenager - brought interest from European teams and dreams of joining a team in the United States.
But after damage to an artery during surgery and attempts to correct the issue failed, Oduwaiye found herself on the path to Para-athletics.
She met her coach, Josh Clark, through the late, highly regarded Welsh Para-sport coach Anthony Hughes.
"Immediately they saw me and said, 'Yeah, you're a thrower'. I kind of wanted to try other stuff, but I just trusted in them," said Oduwaiye.
"At first I just kept [the new sport] to myself. It was at that point where I was still in denial about my disability, I was still like, 'I'll come back and play basketball'."
Instead Paris 2024 beckons from 30 August to 8 September, with Oduwaiye also hoping to make her mark beforehand in Japan at the Kobe 2024 Para Athletics World Championships in May.
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