Rafiatu Lawal

Rafiatu Folashade Lawal (born 12 November 1996) is a Nigerian weightlifter. She won the gold medal in the women's 59kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. She represented Nigeria at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, France. In 2019, she represented Nigeria at the African Games held in Rabat, Morocco and she won the gold medal in the women's 59kg event.

She won the gold medal in her event at the 2021 African Weightlifting Championships held in Nairobi, Kenya.

Career

At the 2019 African Games held in Rabat, Morocco, she won the gold medal in the women's 59kg event. She also won the gold medal in both the Snatch and Clean & Jerk events.

She competed in the women's 59kg event at the 2021 World Weightlifting Championships held in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. She finished in 6th place in this competition. As a result, she qualified to compete at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England.

She won the gold medal in the women's 59 kg event at the 2022 Commonwealth Games held in Birmingham, England. She also set new Commonwealth Games records in the Snatch (90 kg), Clean & Jerk (116 kg) and Total (206 kg).

In March 2024, she won the gold medal in the women's 59kg event at the 2023 African Games held in Accra, Ghana. In August 2024, she competed in the women's 59kg event at the 2024 Summer Olympics held in Paris, France. She finished in fifth place with 230 kg in total.

Achievements