Weightlifter Winnifred Ntumi has shared her struggles on her way to winning three medals including Gold for Ghana at the ongoing 13th African Games.
Winnifred Ntumi won two Silver medals in 49kg snatch and Clean and Jerk before clinching a Gold medal to put Ghana on the medals table.
Speaking in an interview on 3FM’s Sunrise on Monday, March 11, the African champion revealed that she had to wear her own jersey and oversized boots to compete at the Games.
“I had to use my own jersey for this competition,” she revealed.
“The items for this contest came in a day before, which is very bad. I was given size 40 boots for my weightlifting instead of a 38,” she added.
This comes amid complaints from many other athletes representing Team Ghana at the Games.
'They oiled the chains of our 'old' bicycles just before the start of the competition' – Ghanaian cyclist couldn't hide her frustrations after missing out on a medal at @Accra2023AG.#OnuaSports pic.twitter.com/SY8uWNT5zs
— #OnuaSports (@OnuaSports) March 10, 2024
Winnifred, who won medals at the last Games in Marrakech, Morocco in 2019, indicated that she had to put her struggles behind and focus on improving her performance.
“Well, my mind was only set up on making a good performance, which I did and through that, it made me get one Gold and two Silvers. How can I even put it, I was more than excited. I was more than happy.
“I don’t know the kind of words to use to express this happiness. Winning Ghana’s first Gold and Silver medals, I was so happy.”
Later on Sunday, swimmer Abeku Gyekye Jackson won Ghana’s fourth medal – Silver in 50m butterfly.
The Games are scheduled to end on Saturday, March 23.
