Mariam Usman

Mariam Usman

File:Maryam Usman.png
Personal information
Born	(1990-11-09) 9 November 1990
Height	1.66 m (5 ft 5+1⁄2 in)
Weight	122 kg (269 lb)
Sport
Country	Nigeria
Sport	Weightlifting
Event	+75kg
Turned pro	2007
Medal record Women's Weightlifting Representing Nigeria Olympic Games Bronze medal – third place 2008 Beijing +75 kg World Championships Bronze medal – third place 2011 Paris +75 kg All-Africa Games Silver medal – second place 2007 Algiers +75 kg Silver medal – second place 2015 Brazzaville +75 kg Commonwealth Games Gold medal – first place 2014 Glasgow +75 kg Silver medal – second place 2010 Delhi +75 kg African Championships Gold medal – first place 2008 Strand +75 kg Gold medal – first place 2011 Cape Town +75 kg Gold medal – first place 2012 Nairobi +75 kg Gold medal – first place 2016 Yaounde +75 kg Commonwealth Championships Gold medal – first place 2011 Cape Town +75 kg Gold medal – first place 2013 Panang +75 kg
Updated on 15 October 2016

Mariam Usman (born 9 November 1990) is a Nigerian weightlifter. She competes in the women's +75 kg class, where she is a four-time African Champion and gold medalist at the Commonwealth Games. She also won a bronze medal at the 2011 World Weightlifting Championships and has competed in three editions of the Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in 2008.

Biography

Usman was born in Kaduna, Nigeria and took up weightlifting as a way to combat harassment that she received from boys. She debuted on the international scene in 2007, where she took silver in all three categories of the +75 division at the 2007 All-Africa Games in Algiers, Algeria and finished 9th at the World Championships in Chiang Mai, Thailand. She then qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China by winning the +75 kg class at the 2008 African Weightlifting Championships in Strand, South Africa. At the Beijing Games Usman competed in the +75 kg division and finished fifth, but was upgraded to a bronze medal after the silver and bronze medalists from that event, Olha Korobka and Mariya Grabovetskaya, were suspended in August 2016 after testing positive for dehydrochlormethyltestosterone. She came in fifth at the 2009 World Championships in Goyang, South Korea and then took silver overall at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, India. She improved to first at the 2011 Commonwealth and African Championships and took overall bronze at the 2011 World Championships held in Paris, France. Usman qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics by winning the +75 kg division at that year's African Championships in Nairobi, Kenya, but in London failed to complete the Clean & Jerk portion of the event and did not place. She was more successful in the ensuing years, however, taking gold at the 2013 Commonwealth Championships in Penang, Malaysia and the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland. At the 2015 African Games in Brazzaville, Congo, however, she slipped to silver and finished 17th at the World Championships in Houston, Texas. Nonetheless, Usman won the 2016 African Championships, held in Yaounde, Cameroon, and was part of Nigeria's delegation to the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. There she finished 8th among 16 competitors in the +75 kg category. Usman blamed her performance on lack of training opportunities offered to her in Nigeria and stated that she would no longer compete internationally for her home country.

Senior level results

Year	Venue	Weight	Snatch (kg)				Clean & Jerk (kg)				Total	Rank
			1	2	3	Rank	1	2	3	Rank
Olympic Games
2008	Beijing, China	+75 kg	115	115	120	4	145	150	156	2	265	3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2012	London, United Kingdom	+75 kg	125	129	133	3	160	160	160	-	-	-
2016	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	+75 kg	115	120	120	11	145	150	152	8	265	9
World Championships
2007	Chiang Mai, Thailand	+75 kg	110	115	117	7	135	140	140	10	257	9
2009	Goyang, South Korea	+75 kg	105	110	115	6	135	140	145	5	260	5
2011	Paris, France	+75 kg	117	117	121	5	151	156	160	3rd place, bronze medalist(s)	273	3rd place, bronze medalist(s)
2015	Houston, United States	+75 kg	110	115	120	18	145	145	145	15	260	17
African Games
2007	Algiers, Algeria	+75 kg	110	110	118	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	133	138	142	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	248	2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2015	Brazzaville, Congo	+75 kg	116	121	122	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	150	155	156	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	266	2nd place, silver medalist(s)
Commonwealth Games
2010	Delhi, India	+75 kg	115	120	120	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	140	150	150	2nd place, silver medalist(s)	255	2nd place, silver medalist(s)
2014	Glasgow, Scotland	+75 kg	115	120	125	1st place, gold medalist(s)	145	150	155	1st place, gold medalist(s)	280	1st place, gold medalist(s)

External links

• Mariam Usman at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (archived)