This year’s Commonwealth Games gold medalist in the women’s 53kg weightlifting class, Onome Omolola Didih, has revealed how her mother introduced her to the sport of powerful arms, which has now earned her global recognition.
Sports247 reports that Didih, who broke three world records en route to her historic achievement in Glasgow, Scotland, expressed sadness that her mother is now late, but took consolation in how she has been able to reward her late mum’s efforts with success.
Didih disclosed this and more while speaking during the Athlete’s Corner segment of Sports247’s television programme, ‘Inside Naija Sports,’ which streams via YouTube and airs every Saturday from 12 pm on NTA News 24.
The 22-year-old lifter, whose first international outing for Nigeria was in 2024 and who also won gold at the African Weightlifting Championship earlier this year in Egypt, recalled that her mum encouraged her to enter the sport because she was quite energetic as a child.
Didih recounted, “I started weightlifting in 2013 through the help of my mum, who is now late. At that time, I was very active in the community, and people used to tell her that she should let me go into sports.
“She actually loved the idea, but she did not want me to go into combat sports or anything that would give me injuries. She just wanted something that wasn’t dangerous for me.
“As God had it, there was a sister nearby who was a weightlifter, and my mum asked her how she was doing it. The lady described the location to her, and my mum took me there herself.
“The first day we got there, we met Coach Ene, and he welcomed us very happily. He was excited to see a young girl like me show interest in weightlifting, and he began to put me through.”
Didih confessed that she never had an interest in sports as a kid, and she did not even know something called weightlifting, which means she wouldn’t have been involved in it if her mum had not taken her there herself.
She also recalled how she came close to stopping when the challenges appeared to be unbearable for her, but some of her friends kept on encouraging her, and she took more interest after the 2020 National Sports Festival in Benin City.
“I did not like sports before that time, and I had never seen people do weightlifting. I saw it for the first time on the day my mum took me there. Fortunately, that was a very good step she took for me, and I am grateful to her for doing it.
“I was also fortunate that I started when I was very, very young. I began to love the sport, and I put my all into it. Despite that, I almost gave up at one point because of the stress, heavy training and money issues.
“I actually told my mum that I would not go again, but she insisted that I must not stop. She convinced me that I had a bright future in it, but I was reluctant to resume training.
“At that point, Edo 2020 was approaching, and Coach Emmanuel came to my place. He told me that he would allow me to stop when we returned from the competition if I still felt that I didn’t want to continue.
“It was my first big competition, and I was happy that I won a medal for the first time in my life. I actually won one silver and a bronze. That encouraged me to continue in weightlifting.
“So, I buckled up, and I bounced back fully. Fortunately, I was soon called to the national camp. Although I could not make the final team initially, my chance eventually came after three or four invitations,” Didih reflected with nostalgia.
