Team Nigeria has been attending the Olympic Games since 1952 and in Tokyo 2020 olympics recorded the highest percentage of athletes disqualified. Ten Nigerian and field athletes were declared ineligible to compete for failing to comply with the out of the competition testing (OCT) requirement by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU). A total of 10 other athletes from Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and Ukraine were also disqualified.
According to a press release by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU), twenty (20) athletes were disqualified for Tokyo 2020 as minimum testing requirements not met by ‘Category A’ federations. Nigeria was included in Category A at the start of 2020 following a continued period of weak domestic testing levels.
Participating in the Olympics is the dream of every athlete and winning the medal is their goal. Getting disqualified is a dream shattered for our Nigeria athletes. What went wrong? Was it poor preparation, mismanagement of fund, incompetent administrators or negligence by the Nigerian Olympic Committee.
Nigeria sprinter and Silver medalist at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, Blessing Okagbare posted on Twitter after the disqualification of the ten athletes,
“I have said it before and I will say it again. If you do not know the sport, not passionate about it/us (the athletes), then you have no business there as an administrator. The sports system in Nigeria is so flawed and we athletes, are always at the receiving end of the damages,”
“They were busy fighting over power, exercising their pride over PUMA contract/kits, forgetting their major responsibility ‘THE ATHLETES”. It’s sad that this cycle keeps repeating itself and some people will come out to say I am arrogant for speaking my truth. It is my CAREER.”
On July 31st, after completing the first round of the 100m, Blessing became the 11th Nigerian athlete out of 23 to be disqualified by the Athletics Integrity Unit after an out-of-competition test came back positive for human growth hormone.
Chidi Okezie, who was also disqualified from participating, took to Instagram to express his pain.
“The country of Nigeria is crying out for help. The athletes are suffering in silence. If we never had a shot, how are we going to take it? Direct all your questions to @theafn_ Stay blessed, keep believing,”
The Athletics federation of Nigeria (AFN) released a full statement as seen on Instagram that it is not liable for disqualification of the 10 athletes.
After several days of defeats and disqualification of some of the athletes since the start of Tokyo 2020 olympics, in the early hours of Tuesday, Ese Brume wins Nigeria first medal. She claimed a bronze medal with a 6.97m jump, finishing third in the women’s long jump final event.
Nwokocha Oborodudu Blessing also gave Nigerians reasons to cheer by achieving the first ever silver medal at the Tokyo Olympic Games. Oborududu set a new record as the first Nigerian to win a wrestling medal at the Olympics. Nigeria now has one silver and one bronze on the medals’ table.
According to Nigeria’s Minister of Youth and Sports, Sunday Dare, Blessing Oborududu and Ese Brume have been rewarded with cash prizes of $10,000 and $7,500 for winning silver and bronze medal respectively. The gesture is to drive home the point that the Federal Government rewards superlative efforts. Gold medalist will be rewarded with $15,000 and with three Nigerians left in the wresting event and Chukwuebuka Enekwechi who will be competing in the men’s shot put final on Thursday, we hope team Nigeria claims the gold medal.
