Nigeria may lose one of the gold medals it won at the most recent Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, England, according to all the signs.
We gathered that the 4x100m Women’s gold medal is now in jeopardy due to a failed drug test by one of the members of the winning foursome, which included Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Rose Chukwuma, and Grace Nwokocha.
It was a historic occasion for Nigeria at the Games as the quartet won their 11th gold medal in Birmingham in a time that set a new African Record of 42.10s.
The joy and publicity around the gold medal and the African record, however, will mean nothing in light of recent developments because of the doping regulations.
Any performance that violates the doping regulation is completely invalidated, even if just one person on the team is involved.
The fact that Nigeria only stands to lose the relay gold shows that Tobi Amusan, who also took home the gold in the 100-meter women’s hurdles, is not to blame.
Although the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN has not yet released information about the identity of the guilty athlete, a board member of the AFN revealed to us how appalled the organization is by the unfortunate turn of events.
The AFN board member said, “I cannot talk to you yet on the issue. Just wait for the official statement that would be released, but this is very sad. Just when we thought we were making some headway, this has really brought us back.”
Since the results of the “B” sample, which is frequently the same as “A,” are still pending, the Athletics Integrity Unit, the organization in charge of handling international doping accusations, has not yet released a statement to the public about the situation.
In any case, the AIU applauded Nigeria for its increased anti-doping efforts in the lead-up to the Commonwealth Games.
At the World Championship in Oregon, Nigeria was given a clean bill of health, in contrast to the Tokyo Olympics where 10 of its participants were disqualified for failing to complete the required number of out-of-competition tests.
If Nigeria loses the relay medal, Birmingham’s performance won’t be remembered as the nation’s best-ever performance at the Commonwealth Games.
