By Aja Beyai
Abdou Barrow returned from Italy earlier this year with two gold medals and the title of International Best Lifter, becoming the first Gambian ever to compete in the European Powerlifting Championship. Now the country’s reigning heavyweight champion is struggling to raise the money for a flight and basic expenses to represent The Gambia at the GPA World Cup in Annecy, France, from 13 to 15 November.
Born on 9 September 1995, Barrow began lifting weights as a child in 2005 and entered his first competition in 2011. After more than a decade of local events, he claimed the Gambian Heavyweight Championship in 2026. That title earned him a place on the national team for Europe.
“Finally, this year, 2026, I became the Gambian Heavyweight Champion. From there, I had the chance to go and represent Gambia in the European Championship,” he told The Alkamba Times in an exclusive interview.
In Italy, he did more than participate. He won double gold and was named International Best Lifter. Yet the medals have not translated into institutional support. Barrow says he has financed his career almost entirely on his own, with only occasional help from individual fans. Neither the government nor the Gambian Powerlifting Federation has provided financial backing.
“I am the one who is sponsoring myself,” he said. “I’m not having government support. I don’t have support from the government except documents.”
Preparations for France have been especially difficult. He took a loan to cover his visa fee and initially lacked the transport money to travel to Dakar to submit paperwork. A Senegalese man eventually gave him D3,500 for transport and accommodation.
“It really sucks me in a sense, like as a Gambian, how can a Senegalese support me to go and represent my own country?” Barrow asked. “I was expecting even if the Gambian government doesn’t support me, but the Gambians will support… But I am not having support from the Gambians. I am not having support from the government.”
A businessman by trade, Barrow says powerlifting has left him broke because nearly all his earnings go back into the sport. As a heavyweight, he needs consistent food and supplements, yet he continues “doing things raw” without either.
He also criticizes the national Federation for failing to advocate for him. “You cannot be a national heavyweight champion if you don’t participate in the Federation. But they are not supporting me,” he said. “They never come out to the government or to the society or to the Gambians and tell the Gambians to support me.” He attributes the lack of backing partly to envy and the absence of family connections within the sport’s leadership.
Despite offers that would allow him to switch nationality and lift for another country, Barrow insists he wants to carry the Gambian flag. “I want to represent The Gambia. I’m a Gambian, and I want to represent The Gambia,” he said. “But given my situation right now, it can push me to think of changing my nationality.”
With the World Cup only days away, Barrow has launched a public appeal for donations to cover his flight, hotel, food and local transport. He has shared mobile-money and Ecobank account details, urging Gambians to help him make history rather than force him to consider lifting under another flag.
You can support him in the following ways: Wave / Mobile Money: +220 3448155; Bank Transfer (Ecobank Gambia): Bank Name: Ecobank Gambia; Account Name: Abdou Barrow; Account Number: 6240040432.
