Adijat Olarinoye put on a weightlifting clinic for Team Nigeria, sweeping all three gold medals on offer in the women’s 55kg category at the 13th African Games in Accra, Ghana.
The 24-year-old Olarinoye was simply unstoppable, totaling 185kg to take the gold medal in that event. She kicked things off by winning gold in the snatch with a lift of 80kg.
Olarinoye then capped her total domination of the weight class by claiming the clean & jerk gold as well with a 105kg lift.
This triple gold performance is a repeat of Olarinoye’s stellar showing at her African Games debut in 2019. At those games in Rabat, she won gold in the 55kg class as well as the 55kg clean & jerk, along with silver in the 55kg snatch behind compatriot Chika Amalaha.
Olarinoye also set a new African record of 116kg in the clean & jerk at the 2019 African Games on August 26th.
She won the first gold medal for Nigeria at the Commonwealth Games 2022 in Birmingham after she has been voted Nigeria’s Best Female athlete 2020 and 2021.
With her triple gold performance, the diminutive but powerful Olarinoye reinforced her status as one of the top weightlifters in Africa and a rising star on the global stage.
Her incredible display adds three more golds to Nigeria’s overall medal tally at these African Games. The nation will be looking for Olarinoye to use this as a springboard towards more success at future major multi-sport events.
