Kenyan Paralympian Wawira finds courage in powerlifting contest

In a claustrophobic dimly-lit room in a Nairobi stadium, the diminutive Kenyan Paralympian Hellen Wawira Kariuki barely breaks a sweat as she powerlifts nearly double her weight, her coach urging her on.

“Sixty kilos is still warming up,” grinned the 32-year-old, who qualified for the Paris Games that open next week in the para-powerlifting under 41-kilo category.

“The sport has helped me to have courage which I did not have before,” Wawira told AFP.

The Kenyan athlete, who has spina bifida, a congenital malformation of the spine, finished fifth at the Tokyo Paralympics in 2021.

And this time around, she said: “I hope to win any medal because anything can happen.”

That sentiment sums up her approach to the sport, which she took up by chance.

In 2012 she was stuck at home in Embu, some 125 kilometres (77 miles) northeast of Nairobi, after she was unable to afford university fees. For three years she helped out around the house until a friend suggested she try powerlifting -much to her parents’ horror, who were worried about the strain on her body.

Despite training on a rudimentary homemade bench, she achieved a respectable placing in Tokyo, when she lifted 95 kilos.

Since then her list of achievements has only grown, capped by a bronze medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England. Following her success, Wawira’s facilities have finally improved. Partly funded by the Kenyan state, she is able to train two hours a day in the Nyayo National Stadium’s gym in Nairobi.

She pushed back at the notion that European athletes have a financial advantage, noting with a smile, “we use the same training bench”.

But that feeling is not entirely shared by her coach of seven years, David Waore.

“They only have to concentrate on sport,” he told AFP, whereas he and Wawira needed “side hustles” to survive financially.

But despite the obstacles, he said he is convinced that Wawira can win a medal when her event takes place on September 4 in Paris.

“She will do it, I know,” he said, before exhorting her in a patter of Swahili, “twende, twende” (come on, come on), as she benched 80 kilos.

Lifting double her own body weight has helped Wawira feel “strong and powerful”.

Through her journey, she said she hopes to change the way disability in the East African country is viewed, where “society does not really accept us”.

“Living with a disability in Kenya is not easy,” said Wawira, who uses a wheelchair.