Rafiatu Lawal
Rafiatu Folashade Lawal 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 also set a new African record of 93kg in the Snatch event.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. The 2021 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships were also held at the same time and her total result gave her the gold medal in this event. 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, Clean & Jerk and Total.
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.