As expressed in the Olympic Creed, “the most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part” perhaps amid fair play and this slogan has manifested in the success story of a Nigerian weightlifter and three-time Olympian, Maryam Usman.
Usman, finished fifth in the women’s +75kg weightlifting at the Beijing 2008 Olympics but eight years on, sheer providence has placed her where she deserved to be, as the International Olympic Committee (IOC), after thorough examinations of the doping tests conducted stripped the silver and bronze winners of their medals, thus elevated the Nigerian lifter to the third position for the bronze medal.
Interestingly, Maryam also became the second Nigerian to win an Olympic medal in weightlifting after Ruth Ogbefor-Balofin, who won a silver medal at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
In this interview with Tribunesport’s GANIYU SALMAN, the 2014 Commonwealth Games champion and Beijing 2008 bronze medallist, Maryam Usman revealed how she quit football for weightlifting in 2002.The Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) officer and four-time African champion also recalled how she won a National Sports Festival medal as a lifter of just three-month experience. Excerpts:
Why did you embrace weightlifting in the first instance?
I started weightlifting in 2002 while in school at Oxford International School, Kaduna. Actually, I was playing football until one day when I went to the stadium and saw weightlifters at a training session. I was amazed being the first time. Coach Usman Usman then walked up to me and said your physique looks strong for this game and that I should come and try. To be frank, I was not good at football because of my physique, but I used to train with a team handled by coach, Waheed. So, coach Usman then showed me some photographs of women lifters and said I could become a good weightlifter too. He told that some of the women lifters even had children which did not stop them from the game. There and then, I said if they could do it, I could do even better with my status and that was how I started. This was early in 2002. Coach Usman later taught me some techniques and I was able to master it very well, he was so impressed and even asked me whether I had been into the game before and I said no.
Later, I realised that football is better for slim people and in my own case, I didn’t fit in because of my weight which I find difficult to reduce. So, weightlifting accepted me totally. Even as a footballer then, I couldn’t say this was the position I was playing (laughter). I usually run after the ball during training and I was enjoying it because the primary aim was for me to keep fit.
Can you recall your first local tournament?
In fact, my first tournament was the Edo 2002 National Sports Festival and I only trained for three months. I was weighing 82kg and I could not shed weight. My coach gave me some training tips to reduce weight and come below 75kg but I didn’t succeed. So, he registered me to compete in the +75kg. He told me that if only for exposure, I should start somewhere and when we got to the venue, I put in my best and I won a bronze medal. I was so excited because I couldn’t believe I could win a medal in a national tournament of that magnitude. It was a morale booster for me moreso I was the only lady lifter who represented Kaduna State at the sports festival that year.
I also attended the 2004 National Sports Festival in Abuja and I won a silver medal. I took a break to pursue academics and that was why I missed the Gateway Games 2006 sports festival.
How was your experience at the 2007 All Africa Games in Algiers?
As I said, I left training for sometime to face academics and only came back to train for the national trials in Lagos ahead of the Algiers 2007. My coach was even wondering how I would cope will I cope since I had abandoned training for sometime and I said I will go and try. Eventually, I finished third in my category, but the national team coach then, Samson Cosmos insisted that I must report to the national camp instead of the lady who finished second and the winner of that event {+75kg}. He said he saw the potential in me but the issue generated a lot of controversy at that time because I was new in weightlifting. I saw the invitation as a challenge and I resolved that I will make the best use of that opportunity when I got to the camp. At the end, I came out tops and eventually grabbed the ticket to Algiers 2007.
I learned a lot in Algiers though I came back with a silver medal. It wasn’t a smooth experience because I was new in the national camp, it is a story for another day. I was a bit jittery being my first international tournament if not, I would have done better.
What abour your next tournament?
It was the World Championships in Thailand and I finished ninth. Yes, it was a bit difficult at such level but my coach {Cosmos) said I did well because +75kg is one of the toughest zones in weightlifting. He said if I should continue with that form, I could do better in future competitions.
Can you recall how you qualified for the Beijing 2008 Olympics?
After the world championship, we were in camp for almost six months before we went for the African Championships in South Africa where I won gold and qualified for the Olympics. I had a very tough opponent from Egypt to contend with and I was able to triumph. Again, we trained very well in the camp.
At Beijing 2008, you finished fifth and how did you receive the news a few days ago that you have been elevated to the bronze position?
Well, I read the news on the internet like any other Nigerian because I have not yet been contacted neither by the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) nor the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation (NWF). Though I got the hint of this positive development immediately after the Rio Olympics through my friends that doping tests would make the results to change. So, we joked about it that so, I could still get a medal and thank God it has become a reality. It’s amazing to win an Olympic medal years after I have even forgotten about the event. Winning an Olympic medal is something to be happy about, but I would have been happier if I was presented my medal right on the podium. I am happy nevertheless, it is a great achievement for me irrespective of the circumstances which led to my victory. It is a reward for fair play. That I have an Olympic medal is something to celebrate, but I said, nobody from the authorities has contacted me yet to confirm the news.
Can you recall what happened during the tournament in Beijing?
Actually, I had a problem of competing with one of the opponents who weighed lower and it got to a point that I had to go for a medal lift, which is always tasking. It brings a lot of pressure on the athlete. It is better if one wins a medal after a lift than to go for a lift that must bring out a medal. It is really, really tough to go for a medal lift. So, I lost a position to a lady who weighed lower than me and after we both lifted the same weight and that was how I finished fifth in the first instance. From the reports after the doping tests, the silver and bronze winners were tested positive and that automatically elevated me who came fifth and the lady who finished fourth to be awarded medals.
What do you expect now?
Well, what I expect is for either the NOC or NWF to inform me formally of my elevation as a bronze medallist at the 2008 Olympics. I have not been informed officially as I said earlier. Then, I will be looking forward to the day I will be presented with my medal.
How was your experience at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in India?
I came back with the silver and I was happy anyway winning a medal in such a major championship.
What about the London 2012 Olympics?
Before the London Olympics, we attended the 2011 World Championships in Paris, France and I finished fourth but five days later, the lady who won the bronze tested positive for banned substances and was stripped of her medal and that was how I came back with a bronze medal and the ticket to the 2012 Olympics. Later, I won the African Championships in Kenya. Unfortunately, I didn’t perform well in London at the Olympics proper.
In fact, London 2012 was one of the worst experiences in my career because I have never trained as hard as I did for the London Olympics. Before we left for the Olympics, we were in Germany on a training tour and the German coach attached to me came out with a technical decision which eventually rocked the ship. I always get emotional whenever I recall this incident. The German trainer told my coach that I had trained very well and could win a medal at the Olympics. I knew I was good to get a medal in London, I was not sure of the colour. In weightlifting, there is what we called a ‘low-down’. After training rigorously, you must stop two weeks to the competition for light training so that you don’t burn yourself out. However, the German coach said the two-week break can mess up the whole preparation and that I must be careful so as not lose focus. Something happened along the line because I was not in a position to design my training programme. At the end, it was a poor result that I came out with in London. I lifted 129kg in snatch which qualified me for bronze on the table because the other lady lifted 127kg. In the clean and jerk, every other competitor started to warm up before even the world champion. My coach was instead telling me to “relax, relax” it was a technical error. I warmed up with 140kg at the time they called me out to come and lift 160kg which I couldn’t lift. Only a crane could have carried additional 20kg without looking back and I’m not. So, it was a terrible experience and this was partly because I warmed up very late.
How was your experience winning the 2014 Commonwealth Games gold?
In fact, I had the best team of coaches around and the preparation was equally superb. The environment was very very conducive. If you train in a conducive environment, you will get a positive result. Every thing worked out well for me in Glasgow. Yes, I won the gold at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships in Malaysia and that actually also boosted my confidence before the Glasgow 2014. So, winning the Commonwealth Games gold gave me great feelings.
Were you not disappointed that you didn’t win the gold at the 2015 All Africa Games as reigning Commonwealth champion?
I was not too disappointed that I won silver in Congo Brazzaville. The truth of the matter is that after the Commonwealth Games, I resolved that I needed to do something to enhance my future because at the end of the day, nobody cares about you any longer if you retire. Nobody wants to know if you have been representing Nigeria for 20 years and so on or you have won several medals for the country. So, I said let me go back to school and that informed why I enrolled at the Louisiana State university in USA to study sports science. I am still on the programme. So, I was concentrating more on my academics and I had little time for training. So, I was not in the best form when we went for the All Africa Games and winning a medal even served as a consolation for me.
Can you recall your worst outing so far?
Well, it was when I finished 17th at the World Championships in Houston, USA in 2015.
It was also after that tournament I first resolved to stop international career because I started losing interest in the way we are being treated but my coach said I must forge ahead. The performance in Houston was my worst outing ever. One of the Federation executives who accompanied us to the trip even told me that a white official came to him and said ‘what happened to Maryam? This is not Maryam that I used to know’ and that tells you the kind of performance I had in Houston. I don’t even know who the person was. I came back stronger to win the 2016 African Championships in Cameroon. I knew I needed to work harder to qualify for the Rio 2016 Olympics and that was what happened. Eventually, I was the only Nigerian who qualified for the Rio Olympics and it was a thing of joy to me that I will be making third appearance at the Olympic Games.
Were you disappointed with your performance at Rio 2016?
To start with, my preparation for the Games was practically zero. A lot of things went wrong and our Federation too (NWF) didn’t help matters, I’m sorry I have to express my feelings. People outside weightlifting might not know what happened but the truth of the matter is that we didn’t do the right thing ahead of the Olympics. People just saw me out there {at the Olympics} and they didn’t know the battle I fought to get there. It was very unfortunate that I had to compete not only with my opponents at the Games, but people who didn’t want you to succeed in the first instance, people who criticised you and all that. ‘Why Maryam, Why Maryam’ and so on. Even before I left for the training tour, some people were not happy that I qualified for the Olympics. All of a sudden, somebody will just come out and be asking why Maryam, was she the only person? I mean, I was not handpicked to represent Nigeria for goodness sake, I qualified. So, when one heard these negative comments, there is no way one will not be discouraged, at some point, I said let me even forgo the Rio Olympics if that will please these people who hate me. During the training camp, I was not in the best frame of mind. I was in the camp with another athlete but I was only the one with the ticket to Rio. I wanted to prove a point to these people that an athlete can not make a squad because she is nice or somebody wants her to be there, but the environment in the training camp made it impossible for me to achieve my aim. So, this dirty game affected my performance too when I got to Rio. I finished eighth at the Olympics and I knew I was not in my best form. In fact, we need to do away with nepotism in this country. Everybody knew it was a hell for me in camp. I still have three or four more years in weightlifting. Representing Nigeria is about sacrifice but thank God for what I have been able to achieve so far. I will try and see what I can still achieve further before I call it quit. Weightlifing has given me so much joy. I was so blessed, there was never a time I regretted going into weightlifting as a career. I never had any major injury but pains which is normal because of the nature of the sport it heal after a while. There is a lot of money in football but in my own case, I chose a sport that suits my physique and I have no regrets.
