Lucy Ejike

Lucy Ogechukwu Ejike (born 16 October 1977) is a Nigerian Paralympic powerlifter. She has represented her country at six consecutive Paralympic Games from 2000 in Sydney through to 2021 in Tokyo. She has won medals at each, three gold, two silver and one bronze. She won a further silver medal at the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth games women's lightweight category of the Para Powerlifting event behind compatriot Esther Oyema.

Personal history Ejike was born in Enugu, Nigeria, in 1977. Ejike uses a wheelchair due to polio Ejike is married and she has two sons. She lives in the state of Enugu where she works as a sports administrator.

Powerlifting career Ejike began training as a powerlifter shortly before the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia. Ejike took the lead in the first round with a lift of 135 kg but she was unable to better this attempt, while Omar bettered her record from Beijing with a final lift of 142 kg. Despite failing to beat Omar, the two women were a class above the rest of the field, and Ejike took silver, 17 kg over bronze medalist Özlem Becerikli of Turkey. Omar had failed at 133 kg on her first lift, but was successful at the same weight on her second attempt. Ejike improved her lead with her second lift, setting her second world record of the day with a weight of 138 kg.

She competed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games where she won a silver medal in the lightweight event.

During the COVID-19 pandemic she had to stay at home and she reported that this affected her ability to train. She did take another gold at the World Championships in 2021 in Manchester where the athletes were not allowed to eat at a restaurant together because of the pandemic restrictions. Ejike was chosen as part of Nigeria's team for the 2020 Summer Paralympics in Tokyo where she planned to gain more gold medals and to break her own world record. A few months later, she won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 World Para Powerlifting Championships held in Tbilisi, Georgia.