Emmanuel Izuagbe Oshomah went through a complete mill of training as a weightlifter, waiting patiently for his time to come. From his days at St. Mary's Catholic School at Iviukwe, Etsako Local Council Area of then Mid-western State (now Edo State), to his sojourn in Lagos, Oshomah's life was a web around weightlifting. Living with his uncle, Joseph Ugiomoh, in the bustling Sabo area of Yaba, Lagos, actually gave the young Oshomah ample opportunity to exhibit his raw talent in the game, which later brought him fame and fortune. By the time he retired from weightlifting in 1996 to focus on the technical aspect of the game, he had won virtually all medals available in the 75kg intermediate category, including a gold medal at Oluyole '79 National Sports Festival in Ibadan and silver at Bendel '81 edition of the fiesta. He was subsequently elevated to the national team, where he ruled the 82.5kg both in the junior and senior categories.At the national level, Oshomah conquered the rest of Africa, setting a new African record and clinching two gold and a silver medal at the 4th All Africa Games held in Nairobi, Kenya, in 1987 as well as Commonwealth medal in Western Samoa in 1985. He was Nigeria's flagbearer in the 100kg senior category of the World Weightlifting Championship in Moscow in 1983 as well as 'Sweden '84 edition of the World Championship. Oshomah was also in the country's contingent to the Los Angeles '84 Olympics. He had six contenders nationwide in the 100kg during his active days as an athlete. But before he retired, one thing he enjoyed most was that all his opponents always conceded victory to him in his bodyweight category at any competition, except when he did not participate.Oshomah, who has been the weightlifting head coach of the Delta State Sports Council since 1991, narrates the story of his life in this chat withGOWON AKPODONOR, stating that the discipline he got at both St. Mary's in Etsako and his technical training in Lagos shaped his sporting life. He also advised parents to always encourage their wards to take to sports, especially at the early stage, so as to cultivate self-discipline.DELTA State weightlifting coach and former Olympian, Emmanuel Oshomah, took to sport early. His first port of call in the sporting world was high jump, but he later fell in love with cycling for the mere fact that one of his neighbour's son, Henry, was always coming home in tracksuits and on a bicycle, and was always travelling round the country for competitions.'Even as a young boy, I loved travelling so much. I fell in love with cycling immediately I discovered that Henry was a cyclist and was always on the move competing from one state to another,' Oshomah told The Guardian. 'Before this time, I was doing so well as a high jumper for my school.'At times we travelled from Iviukwe to Auchi, which was the headquarter of Etsako Local Council Area at that time, for sporting events. I was also a footballer, but my specialty was high jump.'There was a particular day I was selected in the school team for an inter-local council competition in Benin City and I will never forget the experience because that particular trip gave me an opportunity to meet with athletes from Agbor, Asaba, Sapele, Warri, Ughelli and others. I came second in the high jump and incidentally, it was the only medal for my school in the competition.'During his elementary education in Estako, the sounds of guns and grenades terrorized the entire area following the outbreak of the Nigerian Civil War, but the young Oshomah kept faith. On completion of his elementary education in 1973, he headed to Lagos, a move that changed his sporting career for good.'In Lagos, my immediate plan was to combine the game of cycling with my high jump event. I was staying with my uncle, Mr. Ugiomoh, at No.139, Iyadiran Estate in Sabo, Yaba,' he recalled. 'I did much of my training after closing hours at Lagos City Senior College, but something happened along the line.'As a result of my anxiety to become a cyclist so as to travel round the country like Henry, I met a friend who advised me to go to the National Stadium in Surulere to make enquiries on how to go about it. I bought the idea immediately. Then there was one coach Mike Bamidele, (now late), who was residing at plot 132 of same Oyadiran Estate in Sabo. The moment I mentioned cycling, the man looked at me and said, 'young man, you are too heavy to ride a bicycle competitively. My advice is for you to go into wrestling.'The following day, Bamidele took me to the National Stadium and showed me many wrestlers, saying that the boys would soon become national champions. At a closer look, I discovered some serious deformations in some of them, which I was not ready to accommodate. I went home looking so disappointed and I never went back to him (Bamidele).'Oshomah joined Volkswagen of Nigeria (VWON) at Ojo Town in 1978, combining a job in the technical department with his studies. While at VWON, he read about one Mr. Hoest Siegar, a German, who was head of a department in VWON and at the same time the acting national weightlifting coach at the National Sports Commission (NSC) in Lagos. It was a discovery that turned the hand of the clock in his sporting career.'The article was published in the company's monthly newsletter under the supervision of Mr. Linus Mba, who was the VWON Public Relations Director at that time,' he noted with a feeling of nostalgia. 'Fortunately for me, there was an Inter-States National Weightlifting Championships scheduled for the indoor sports hall of the National Stadium at that time.'I abandoned every other thing to watch the competition. After few hours with the weightlifters, I fell in love with the game and decided taking it as a career. I met Mr. Siegar the following day and told him of my readiness for the game. That was how I officially began my weightlifting career.'In the early days of weightlifting in Nigeria, the game was not too popular in schools, as he explained: 'There was more emphasis on football, athletics and games like lawn tennis, table tennis and boxing at that time. My era actually took weightlifting to a different level in the country.'Oshomah had his first competition in his new sport in April 1979. The country was gearing up for the fourth edition of National Sports Festival, the Oluyole '79, and the young lad represented Shomolu Zone in one of the trials organised by Lagos State for its athletes. He recalled: 'At the end of the Lagos State Festival, I placed fourth on the medal table in weightlifting, but at another trial organised to select the team to represent Lagos at the festival in Ibadan, I placed second behind one Shola, who competed for Mainland Zone.'The Lagos State team was camped at the Muslim Teachers Training College, Randle Avenue in Surulere, and in a mini trial for the weightlifters few days to the festival, I defeated Shola and that was how I became the flagbearer for Lagos State in the 75kg intermediate category.'At Oluyole '79 Festival in Ibadan, he did not disappoint but won gold at the indoor sports hall of the Adamasingba Stadium to announce his arrival. The Lagos State Sports Council employed him in 1980. His success at Oluyole '79 attracted the management of Oyo State Sports Council, which dangled carrots at the young Oshomah in 1981, but the crossover lasted for just three months.He said: 'One morning, an official of Oyo State Sports Authority announced to us that they had been instructed not to poach athletes from another state under the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN) and that they had decided to let us go back to Lagos. So I returned to Lagos State Sports Council.'The then Bendel State hosted the fifth edition of the National Sports Festival in 1981 and Oshomah competed in the senior category, where he settled for a silver medal after losing the gold to late Sunday David of Ondo State. Before the Bendel '81 fiesta, he had been invited to the national team in 1980, though from the junior category. After the festival in Benin City, however, he began to rule the 82.5kg in both junior and senior categories.When Kwara State hosted the 1985 edition of the National Sports Festival, the NSC came up with a new policy that barred athletes above 18 years from participation, and so Oshomah could not feature for Lagos State. Nevertheless, what he missed at Kwara '85 fiesta he gained at the national level in 1987 when he captured a bronze and two gold medals at the fourth All Africa Games in Nairobi, Kenya.Before then, Oshomah had won three gold medals for Nigeria as a junior athlete in 1983 at the World Junior and Africa Weightlifting Championships in Cairo. He also represented Nigeria at the World Weightlifting Championship ' Moscow '83, the Commonwealth Championship in Malta in 1983, as well as Los Angeles Olympics of 1984.In 1985, he got a bronze for the country at the Commonwealth Championship in Western Samoa. Some of his major challengers during his active days as a weightlifter were Afolabi Oduyebor, Edward Obialor, Olusola Awoshina and Elliot Imhoagele. According to Oshomah, his most memorable outing as an athlete was the Kenya '87 All Africa Games, where he set a new African record in addition to the two gold and one silver medals he won for Nigeria.Pitiably, however, he is full of regrets for his poor outing at the Los Angeles '84 Olympics: 'At that particular Games, someone I always beat each time we met at international competitions got a bronze medal while I came back with nothing. But I didn't blame myself much because Nigeria did not prepare well for the Games.'Since retiring to active weightlifting, Oshomah has upgraded himself technically, obtaining a Grade III Coaching Certificate at the National Institute for Sports (NIS) in Lagos in 1986. He joined the Niger State Sports Council as head coach of weightlifting and six years later, moved to the Delta State Sports Council, Asaba, where he works till date.In 1997, Oshomah attended a coaching course at the Hungarian University of Physical Education in Budapest, where he obtained a Coaching Diploma. Some of the weightlifters he had nurtured to stardom included Kelvin Afuaku of Niger State, Patrick Obanye, Peter Eichie, Ebube Virginus, Yinka Ayenuwa, Paul Unusotame, Ndidi Eze, Tosan Bawo, Victoria Obah, Ngozi Okolie and the late Oputa Chimezie.He spoke of his days as a school athlete: 'Then things were a bit better than now in terms of school competitions. Though the support then was more for football and other sports like athletics, boxing and tennis, we had our share of the fun. I want to believe that any time the history of weightlifting is written in this country, my name will sure be there because of my contributions as an athlete and a coach.
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