Umoafia Eyes on Olympic Success after Emerging First Nigerian Male Lifter to Win Gold in 16 Years

*Team Nigeria wins three more gold medals in weightlifting *More expected from track & field today

Duro Ikhazuagbe in Glasgow

Shortly after he won Nigeria’s fourth gold medal in the 71kg category of the weightlifting event of the ongoing 2026 Commonwealth Games here in Glasgow, Scotland, Edidiong Joseph Umoafia insisted that he now have his eyes on the next Olympic Games scheduled to hold in 2028 in Los Angeles, USA.

Umoafia who won the gold with a new Commonwealth Games record of 319kg, is the first male Nigeria weightlifter to win the precious medal in almost 16 years. All previous weightlifting gold medals won by Team Nigeria at New Delhi 2010, Glasgow 2014, and Birmingham 2022 were won by female weightlifters.

Umoafia set the tone early with a Commonwealth Games record total of 319kg. The Nigerian lifted a Games record 147kg in the Snatch before adding 172kg in the Clean and Jerk to finish ahead of Samoa’s Joseph Tafi (314kg) and Nauru’s Elgin Moses (310kg).