Adijat Adenike Olarinoye won the first medal – a gold – for Nigeria in the 55kg weightlifting event on Saturday, which is Day 3 of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham.
She recorded a total of 203kg and had set two records in 10 minutes, lifting 90kg and 92kg in the snatch category.
India’s Bindrayani Sorokhaibam came second while England’s Fraer Morrow came third.
But kit controversy trailed the victory yet again. The BBC reported how a British sportswear manufacturer had to answer an SOS call from Nigeria’s Commonwealth Games team.
Gino Ruffinato, manager of the MG Sportswear firm, which is based in a town near Birmingham, said he at first thought it was a “wind-up” before launching his 14 staff into action.
“As it progressed I started getting emails with orders on, so at that point I thought, hang on, I think this is serious.
“When they hit us with the deadline saying it needs to be there for Friday and today was Tuesday… there’s all the fabric, the print, the designs to get out in two days. It was a bit hair-raising”.
His team had to make 200 pieces of kit including running vests and shorts, staff tracksuits and even 400 Nigerian badges.
Ruffinato said it had been “panic stations” but his staff had embraced the challenge.
Only last week, sprinter Favour Ofili had won a kit with a letter of her name missing during the 4 x 100 metres event at the 18th World Athletics Championships in Oregon, United States.
