Funmi Oduwaiye

Para athletics

Region

Cardiff
Date of Birth

15/01/2003
Classification

F64 Shot Put and Discus

Funmi is a former international basketball player who represented Wales at junior level after playing the sport from 11 years old with the Cardiff Met Archers. She played in the under-18 European Championships of 2019 in Moldova and was named as one of the players of the tournament.

She took up para-athletics in 2022 following multiple surgeries on her legs to correct a condition commonly known as knocked knees. One of the surgeries led to a damaged artery, which resulted in paralysis of her right leg from the knee down. When she was recovering, she first came across Paralympic sport when she watched the Rising Phoenix documentary.

Funmi was introduced to para-athletics by the late coach Anthony Hughes at Disability Sport Wales, who passed away after she started competing. The Welsh thrower made her international debut last year at the World Para Athletics Championships in Paris where she finished sixth in the F64 Discus and fourth in the Shot Put, missing out on her first medal by just 20 centimetres.

Funmi was selected as one of the athletes to highlight in Channel 4’s documentary series in the build-up to Paris 2024 where she finished fifth in the shot put and eighth in the discus. She credits her sporting heroes as Michael Jordan and Serena Williams.

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