Ghanaian weightlifter Forrester Osei finished fifth in the men’s 94kg final at the SEC Armadillo on the sixth day of the 2026 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, completing a comeback from an injury that very nearly kept him off the competition floor altogether.
The final brought together 11 lifters from 11 nations, each attempting three lifts in the snatch and three in the clean and jerk, with the two best results from each discipline added together for a final total.
Malaysia’s Mohamad Syahmi Bin Nor-Ghazali took gold with a total of 347kg, ahead of Canada’s Alex Bellemarre on 346kg and Australia’s Oliver Saxton, who claimed bronze with 336kg. Cameroon’s Daniel Onana Tanga finished fourth on 334kg, with Osei just behind in fifth on a total of 328kg.
Osei picked up the injury during the African qualifiers in Egypt earlier this year, and its severity put his place at these Games in real doubt. He worked through his recovery in time to travel with the Ghana team, and getting back on the platform in Glasgow was, in his own words, a personal milestone regardless of where he finished.
“I am grateful to be here. During the qualifiers in Egypt Africa, I had an injury. This injury was to a level that I was not even meant to be on the stage today. I am grateful for it today because it was a journey. Grateful for the Ghana team, my coaches, for the support and encouragement,” Osei said.
Osei’s path into the sport is unusual. Born in south London to Ghanaian parents, he was studying aerospace engineering and playing American football when he first tried weightlifting on a whim, after spotting a poster for a competition at his football training facility. What started as a joke to his coach grew into a career that has taken him to Ghana’s top level of the sport, competing for the country of his heritage rather than the country of his birth.
He went on to win gold in his weight division at the 2016 Commonwealth Weightlifting Championships and represented Ghana at the Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast in 2018, as well as at the World Weightlifting Championships in 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021 and the 2019 African Games. Earlier this year, he was named one of 31 Athlete Role Models for the 2026 Dakar Youth Olympic Games by the International Olympic Committee.
His standing in the sport extends beyond the competition floor. Osei serves as International Relations Manager for the Ghana Weightlifting Federation, sits on the executive board of the International Weightlifting Federation and is Vice Chair of the IWF Athletes’ Commission, giving him a voice in how the sport is run globally as well as a place among its competitors.
A top five finish at a Commonwealth Games, coming so soon after an injury that threatened to end his campaign before it began, extends a career built on both podium success and service to the sport, and adds another chapter to a story that began with a poster on a gym wall in London.
