INTERNATIONAL para-games champion Bonnie Bunyau Gustin of Sarawak has been widely applauded for winning gold at the Paris Paralympics and setting a new world record by lifting 232kg in the 72kg category.
Sarawak Women, Community Wellbeing, and Early Childhood Development Minister, Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah, hailed Bonnie as a hero for both Sarawak and Malaysia.
"Another gold medal at the highest level in the world. Bonnie is indeed a Sarawakian hero. He is an inspiration to all Sarawak folk, and we are incredibly proud of him," she told reporters.
Fatimah also shared her congratulations on social media, noting that well-wishes for Bonnie have been pouring in from all over.
Bonnie secured the gold medal and set the new world record in Paris yesterday. Just days earlier, on 25 August, he had set the previous world record at the ParaWorld Weightlifting Championship in the United Arab Emirates, lifting 231kg. That achievement surpassed his own record of 230kg, which he had set at the 2021 World Championship.
Bonnie is also the reigning Paralympic World Champion in weightlifting, a title he won at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2020. He first made headlines in 2019 by winning international events, and last year he took home gold for Malaysia in the Commonwealth Para-games in Birmingham, England, in the same weightlifting category. – September 7, 2024.
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