They bore the same first name, Ruth, and they can as well be referred to as ‘The Golden Ruths’ within the cream of Nigerian weightlifters. Indeed Ruth Imoleayo Ayodele and Ruth Asuquo Nyon recently dazzled at the recently concluded National Sports Festival in Ogun State where they both shared six gold medals equally between themselves. In a conversation with TUNDE LIADI, Ayodele and Nyong, bare their minds on the zest for sports-particularly weightlifting
Though she strutted her way to the podium with a gold medal finish at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, Ruth Imoleayo Ayodele, has not only set her sights on qualification for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow but a lifelong dream of participating at the Los Angeles Olympic Games in 2028.
At the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games , Ayodele two gold medals and a silver and was also the cynosure of all eyes at the just the National Sports Festival, Gateway Games Ogun 2024, where she dusted all in the Women’s 64kg to secure the three gold medals on offer for Bayelsa State.
She said she got into the sport after he was introduced to it by coach Kehinde Ayodabo and that she has never looked back ever since in her quest to dominate the sport and also serve as role models for cub lifters.
Nevertheless, Ruth hinted it has not been bed of roses for her as she recalled some traumatic experiences , adding but for her strong-willed disposition and determination to conquer all adversities , she won’t be where she is today.
“It has not been easy,” Ayodele began in a lively interview with NationSport. “But I want to thank God and coach Kehinde Ayodabo who has been with me ever since I began Weightlifting and even when things were difficult.”
Yet the lifter seems not to be contented with her medal hauls yet which includes three gold medals from the Ogun 2024 National Sports Festival, adding one of the secrets to her success so far is the encouragement from the affable President of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, Dr Ibrahim Abdul along with his board members.
She said she made it her point of duty to keep pushing herself and that her firm believe in God that she can’t be forsaken have been very invaluable in her quest to rediscover herself despite the adversities she has encountered.
“ I want to specifically thank the Weightlifting President, Dr Ibrahim Abdul and the board members of the NWF because they have also been there for me,” the 24-year-old Ayodele who claimed three gold medals un the 64kg event at the 2023 African Games in Ghana, further told NationSport. “What I believe in life is that nothing good comes easy.
“You just need to keep pushing and belief in God and yourself.”
Consequently, Ayodele said she has commenced training in earnest ahead of future competitions with her sight firmly on securing a ticket to the 2026 Commonwealth Games In Glasgow ahead of LA 2028 Olympics.
She continued: “I will like to go for more competitions so that I can qualify for the Olympics and I believe God will help me to do more.
“I found myself in the sport. I saw it and embraced it. I don’t have any role model. I am my own role model.
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“I will love to qualify for the next Commonwealth Games. I will like to train more after the National Sports Festival. I am going back home to resume training because I need to do more work because I know I can do more.
“I was at the Commonwealth Games in 2022 and I won two gold and a silver medal and from there I went to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia and Qatar and some other competitions but going to the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles is my life-long ambition,” she noted.
If the story of Ayodele is inspiring, that of her ‘Siamese twins’ Ruth Asuquo Nyong is a reminder that nobody should give up on their dreams no matter what the naysayers are saying.
This Akwa Ibom State-born lifter only switched to her first love(weightlifting) long after a successful stint in athletics where she’d even won medals at the National Youth Games.
Nyong, a native of Ibiono Ibom LGA in Akwa Ibom won three gold medals in the women’s 49kg at the Gateway Games Ogun 2024 National Sports Festival for Rivers State as she easily defeated more experienced weightlifters.
Incidentally, the soft spoken Nyong said she was almost dissuaded from weightlifting with erroneous belief that it may retard her growth and height.
“I started sports right from my primary school days till my secondary through the support of my parent,” Nyong shared her humble beginning. “After then I moved to the state level where I represented Akwa Ibom in Athletics in the sprint event for a couple of years with a gold and a silver medal at the National Youth Games.”
She has Nigeria and African Champion, Edidiong Umoafia to thank for making the bold switch from athletics to weightlifting , even as she recognised the unflinching support of coach Andrew Ekannem right from the outset of her career as a weightlifter.
“It Edidiong Umoafia , a champion in a weightlifting that first told me about weightlifting and how I can also become a champion like him,” the energetic Nyong said. “But some people nearly discouraged me that weightlifting will make me to be short as if I wasn’t tall (general laughter).
“One fateful day, I met with Coach Andrew Ekannem, the coach that made me to love weightlifting. He looked at me and called me a ‘lioness’.
“Ever since, he has always being friendly and supportive.”
She recalled her first training under the watchful eyes of coach Ekannem who took her to her first tournament at the Ahmadu Muhammad Weightlifting Championship in Jigawa State barely few months of her exposure to the rudiments of the energy-sapping sport.
She continued: “I trained with him for one month and participated in Ahmadu Muhammad Weightlifting Championship in Jigawa State and I came back with three silver medals.
“It was quite astonishing because I went to the tournament as a greenhorn without any experience.
“I have participated in three NSFs held in Edo, Delta and now Ogun State.
“I won one silver and two bronze medals at Edo 2021 and won just a silver in the Delta 2022 edition because I was involved in an accident on my way to Asaba but I still competed .”
The petite Nyong disclosed she is working hard to take part in the next National Youth Games again since she’s still within the age limit in order to make her mark at that level in weightlifting just as she had previously done in athletics.
“ It is my hope to take part in the next National Youth Games ,” she enthused. “if I am permitted but even if I didn’t go, I know I have put in my best already.”
Aside the likes of Ruth Ayodele, Nyong picked Joy Eze, the Olympian and the two-time gold medallist at the African Games as her role model.
“My role model is Joy Eze, the weightlifting Olympian,” she said. “I just love her and I pray to God to have a successful career in the sport as well.”