By Owen Morgan
Just over a year after taking up para sport, Funmi Oduwaiye is preparing to compete at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris later this month.
At last weekend’s Welsh Athletics Championships, she threw a new personal best in the shot put of 11.03m – just four centimetres off the world lead.
Earlier in the day Oduwaiye threw 32.26m in the discus. The F44 thrower will be competing in both disciplines in France – one of seven Welsh athletes in the Great Britain team.
The former Welsh basketball international was delighted with her performance in Cardiff, particularly as she fell making her first attempt in the shot.
Oduwaiye said: “I was completely fine, it was more embarrassment than the actual fall to be honest. But I came back from it, so I’m happy.
“In my head I was thinking ‘thank god I didn’t do it at the worlds’ although the media coverage would be immense after that!”
It’s no surprise Oduwaiye bounced back in such style after her stumble at the Welsh Championships.
The inspirational teenager has displayed remarkable resilience over the past three-and-a-half years.
In an excellent recent Basketball Wales podcast, Oduwaiye spoke powerfully about how her basketball ambitions were shattered by serious complications which developed after knee surgery in December 2019, when she was just 16.
Only months earlier she had starred at the European Basketball Championships where she was voted one of the All Star Five – the outstanding players at the tournament.
As a result, offers flooded in from around Europe as well as from some of America’s Division One basketball colleges.
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Oduwaiye’s life was to take a very different course following the events of December 2019 as the youngster underwent a series of operations to her right leg, which effectively ended her basketball ambitions.
However, an introduction to the late Anthony Hughes, performance manager at Disability Sport Wales, and coach Josh Clarke launched her career as a para athlete.
Huge congratulations to ex pupil Funmi Oduwaiye who has been selected to represent GB at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in shot and discus 👏🏻🤩 https://t.co/GpJPg4e1Ne
— CHS PE Department 🔴⚫️ (@PEatCardiffHigh) June 3, 2023
Speaking about the dramatic change of direction in her life, Oduwaiye told the podcast: “It might have been for a reason to be honest, everything happens for a reason.
“Especially me being a strong Christian, I believe that if one door is closed then another one will open, so I guess this is that door.”
Asked whether her faith had helped her through such a massively challenging period of her life, Oduwaiye replied: “Most definitely, in the hospital I would ask my parents to read psalms to me.
That’s all I wanted to hear really.
“It’s made me stronger, realising don’t stress yourself about life really, just let it flow, you know? It was a bit of struggle trying to go through all that, especially trying to finish A levels . . .”
She added: “Things will slot into place, you’ll get to the place you want to be, or the place you’re meant to be eventually, so just let it run its course.”
Things have certainly slotted into place as far as para athletics is concerned having been selected for the World Championships which start on July 8.
Oduwaiye will line up alongside six other Welsh athletes in a strong British squad – Hollie Arnold, Aled Davies, Olivia Breen, Sabrina Fortune, Harrison Walsh and Michael Jenkins.
The Paralympic Futures Academy athlete, is delighted about her Great Britain selection and has medal ambitions of her own in Paris.
Describing the moment she found out about her selection, she told Dai Sport: “I was so excited. My mum started screaming and everything!
“It was good, especially as I’ve only been doing athletics for a short period of time and improving at the rate I am – I’m just really happy about it.
“I started just over a year ago now. I think Welsh champs last year was one of my first competitions as a para athlete. I’ve been competing for probably a year and month or two, so it’s not been too long.”
On her prospects in Paris, Oduwaiye said: “Well, 11.03m I think is just four centimetres off the world lead.
“We’re obviously looking to still improve before then, but we’ll see what happens at the worlds really. Hopefully I can come back with a medal . . . hopefully gold.”
It would be a brave person who bets against this remarkable young sportswoman achieving her goals.
With 8⃣ days to go to the #PARIS23 Para Athletics World Championships, we bring you a list of male athletes to keep an eye on during the event: ⬇️follow the thread!
🎟️ Tickets available to watch them from 10,99 EUR: https://t.co/8qmbOwijve
🏁 Schedule: https://t.co/RyvwFgzfWK pic.twitter.com/7nZ9X3GQhQ— #ParaAthletics #PARIS23 (@ParaAthletics) June 30, 2023