Eight months pregnant athlete wins gold medal in Taekwondo
Nigerian athlete Aminat Idrees won a gold medal while participating in the country's National Sports Festival.
This is the story of Nigerian athlete Aminat Idrees who bagged a gold medal in Taekwondo while eight months pregnant during her country’s National Sports Festival. A video shared on Twitter showing her demonstrating different techniques has now prompted people to share all sorts of reactions.
“An inspiring outing by heavily pregnant Aminat Idrees who won a gold medal for Lagos at the ongoing National Sports Festival in Benin, Edo State. Aminat Idrees who is 8 months pregnant won gold in the Mixed Poomsae category in Taekwondo,” reads the caption shared along with the video.
"It's such a privilege for me. I just decided to give it a try after training a couple of times... It feels really good," Idrees told CNN. “Before I got pregnant, I have always enjoyed training, so it didn't seem different with pregnancy,” she added.
The video sparked mixed reactions among people. While some lauded her, others were apprehensive about her doing Taekwondo while expecting.
"A lot of people don't understand what Taekwondo is actually about. I feel this is an avenue to educate people about this. Taekwondo has two branches: the combat sport and Poomsae -- which is a form of exercise...just displaying the hand and leg techniques in Taekwondo. I participated in Poomsae event. I felt there wasn't much risk attached to it, so I decided to give it a try. My doctor, as well as the organizing body of the games certified me fit to participate in the non-contact sport,” she told CNN.
What do you think?
