Meet world record holder, Onye Lauritta (age 40), a Nigerian Paralympian athlete shot-putter.🤝🏽
Onye Lauritta is a two-time world championships medalist and two-time paralympic medalist.
Her world opened up in 2011 when her event was included at the All Africa Games in Maputo, this time for real. She attended and finished with silver in shot put.
Fired on from there, she trained for the 2015 African Championships where she hit gold in shot put, with a world record of 7.59 metres, and silver in discus throw.
Matching on, she proceeded to the Doha 2015 International Paralympic Championships to win Gold (the only medal for Nigeria and also increased her world record to 7.72 metres).
In 2016, she handed team Nigeria it’s first medal in the athletes event, clinching gold in the women’s shot put f40 on day-four of the Rio2016 in Brazil. Her first throw of 8.40m which stands as a world record till today.
Lauritta Onye settled for the bronze in the F40 shot put with a throw of 8.29m at the Tokyo2022 Paralympic Games in Japan.
She also won Silver at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France
Happiest and Iconic moment🤸🏿
In the celebration of her victory (Gold medal) at the Rio2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil, Lauritta left an unforgettable excitement in the games with her dance steps, catwalks, summersaults and friendly gestures as she flew the Nigerian green-white-green right in the centre of the world stage.
The Brazilian spectators aptly described her as “the dancing queen” and that moment has been captured as an iconic advertisement of the Paralympic spirit, an inspiration for all persons with disability, not only in sports.
Sad moments
1. On her return from Doha, the Nigerian society played a trick on her. Muhammadu Buhari had just been elected President and one of his first engagements with the sports community was to reward athletes and coaches who had brought glory to Nigeria in international events, including members of the 1985 national team that won the first FIFA U16 World Cup in China.
Curiously, Lauritta and her coach, Patrick Anaeto, were not invited to the party nor given neither recognition nor reward.
Lauritta was saddened with the disregard. It could have discouraged her from further involvement in sports but she was in love and also has great mental strength and resilience.
2. After the Paralympic team returned from Rio, her home state government, Imo, showered the medalists from there with cash and car gifts but Lauritta was excluded, for the reason that she resides in Lagos.
Onye is also an actress, performing under the name Laury White.
Onye Lauritta is from Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Onye Lauritta deserves national honor 🖐🏽
Meet world record holder, Onye Lauritta (age 40), a Nigerian🇳🇬 Paralympian athlete shot-putter.🤝🏽
Onye Lauritta is a two-time world championships medalist and two-time paralympic medalist.
Her world opened up in 2011 when her event was included at the All Africa Games in Maputo, this time for real. She attended and finished with silver🥈 in shot put.
Fired on from there, she trained for the 2015 African Championships where she hit gold🥇 in shot put, with a world record of 7.59 metres, and silver in discus throw.
Matching on, she proceeded to the Doha🇶🇦 2015 International Paralympic Championships to win Gold🥇 (the only medal for Nigeria and also increased her world record to 7.72 metres).
In 2016, she handed team Nigeria it’s first medal in the athletes event, clinching gold🥇 in the women’s shot put f40 on day-four of the Rio2016 in Brazil🇧🇷. Her first throw of 8.40m which stands as a world record till today.
Lauritta Onye settled for the bronze🥉 in the F40 shot put with a throw of 8.29m at the Tokyo2022 Paralympic Games in Japan🇯🇵.
She also won Silver🥈 at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris, France🇫🇷
♻️Happiest and Iconic moment🤸🏿
In the celebration of her victory (Gold medal) at the Rio2016 Paralympic Games in Brazil🇧🇷, Lauritta left an unforgettable excitement in the games with her dance steps, catwalks, summersaults and friendly gestures as she flew the Nigerian green-white-green🇳🇬 right in the centre of the world stage.
The Brazilian spectators aptly described her as “the dancing queen” and that moment has been captured as an iconic advertisement of the Paralympic spirit, an inspiration for all persons with disability, not only in sports.
♻️Sad moments😔
1. On her return from Doha, the Nigerian society played a trick on her. Muhammadu Buhari had just been elected President and one of his first engagements with the sports community was to reward athletes and coaches who had brought glory to Nigeria in international events, including members of the 1985 national team that won the first FIFA U16 World Cup in China.
Curiously, Lauritta and her coach, Patrick Anaeto, were not invited to the party nor given neither recognition nor reward.
Lauritta was saddened with the disregard. It could have discouraged her from further involvement in sports but she was in love and also has great mental strength and resilience.
2. After the Paralympic team returned from Rio, her home state government, Imo, showered the medalists from there with cash and car gifts but Lauritta was excluded, for the reason that she resides in Lagos.
Onye is also an actress, performing under the name Laury White.
Onye Lauritta is from Owerri, Imo State, Nigeria.
Onye Lauritta deserves national honor 🖐🏽🎖️
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