Nigerian Olympic discus thrower Chioma “CiCi” Onyekwere-Lyons has announced that she is expecting a baby, sharing a maternity photo on Instagram with the caption “Mama to be.”
The post shows the Commonwealth Games gold medallist in a deep pink dress. A mirror captures her smiling, with flowers and ultrasound images arranged in the foreground.
Onyekwere-Lyons made history at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, where she became the first Nigerian woman to win the discus title. Her throw of 61.70 metres put her more than three metres clear of England’s Jade Lally, who took silver with 58.42m. Fellow Nigerian Obiageri Amaechi claimed bronze with 56.99m, giving Team Nigeria two places on the podium.
That gold capped a season in which Onyekwere-Lyons had already won the African title in Mauritius. It was her second African Championships gold after her victory in Asaba in 2018. Between those two titles, she won the discus at the 2019 African Games in Rabat. She added an African Games silver in Accra and an African Championships bronze in Douala in 2024.
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In April 2023, Onyekwere-Lyons threw 64.96m in Ramona, Oklahoma, to break the African record and meet the qualifying standard for that year’s World Championships in Budapest. World Athletics lists the mark as both the African and Nigerian record. It was more than three metres farther than the throw that won her the Commonwealth title eight months earlier.
She went on to represent Nigeria at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where she threw 60.78m and placed 15th in qualifying. At the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, she recorded 59.45m to finish 20th in the qualifying standings.
Before winning senior medals for Nigeria, Onyekwere-Lyons competed in both discus and shot put at the University of Maryland. She finished her college career with the school discus record and placed second in the shot put and third in the discus at the 2016 Big Ten outdoor championships. She graduated that year with an engineering degree and went on to combine full-time engineering work with her international athletics career.
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