Published on :
During the Tokyo Olympics, Olufunke Oshonaike will be the first African sportswoman to compete in the Olympic Games seven times. A feat when we consider the physical and sexual violence of which the superstar of continental table tennis was victim, younger. A story about which the Nigerian confided in the BBC.
On August 5, 2016, Olufunke Oshonaike carried the flag of Nigeria high at the opening ceremony of the Rio Olympic Games, twenty years after his first Olympic Games (Atlanta 1996). On February 28, 2020 in Tunis, the table tennis player then became the first African sportswoman, all disciplines combined, to qualify a seventh time for Olympus.
The 45-year-old Nigerian woman should have focused on Tokyo 2020, if the event had not been postponed for a year because of the coronavirus. But the superstar of continental table tennis was resolutely turned towards the past, this July 14. A tragic past, marked by physical and sexual violence of which she was the victim.
« I am a survivor »
« I am a survivor “, She assures in a BBC interview. « Whenever I hear of a rape, it takes me back “Explains the one who decided to confide, following the sordid rape and death of a 22-year-old compatriot.
« He was a friend, I was naive, tells the one that the Nigerians affectionately call “Funke”. When he was angry, he hit me. He was using his two thumbs to put pressure on my eyes. Then he sexually abused me ».
A ordeal on which the multiple medalist at the African Games and the African Championships could not put words. ” I felt hopeless, with blood all over me, she adds. I didn’t know it was called rape. All I knew was that I felt dirty ».
Inspired by the story of Oprah Winfrey
The story of Olufunke Oshonaike is like that of millions of women around the world. Despite the terrible suffering her executioner inflicted on her, she was paralyzed. The violence began at the time of her first Olympic Games, during the period when she was going to university. ” I went to class with bruises all over my body and people asked me what was wrongshe continues. I was the Nigerian champion at the time, but I was not strong enough to confide in anyone. I went to my little corner to cry ».
« Hypnotisée “And” slave The Lagos native sometimes tried to regain control of her life and her money. ” He used to tell me to give him all my income, she says. Whenever I tried to escape, I claimed my money. But he refused to return it ».
It is by drawing in particular on the example of the American star TV host Oprah Winfrey, rape victim from the age of 9, that Olufunke Oshonaike managed to get out of it. ” I lost everything because of this man, she says. But I fought and managed to get up ».
A great evil in Nigeria
Olufunke Oshonaike would now like to be an inspiration for something other than his table tennis exploits. ” The trauma has been there for years and has affected my sex life and my marriage, she slips. I am able to share my experiences with women who have been victims and encourage them not to give up ».
In Nigeria, violence against women is a major problem. According to a study unveiled in 2018 by the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the demographic giant of West Africa is in 9th place in a ranking of the ten states where life is worse for women … And according to the Women Peace and Security Index 2019-2020 set up by the Georgetown Institute (GIWPS), the country of Olufunke Oshonaike ranks 145th out of 167 nations in this area.
.
