TOKYO 2020 OLYMPIC GAMES
*Annette Echikunwoke, Chidi Okezie, Chioma Onyekwerre, Rosemary Chukwuma listed among banned athletes
Duro Ikhazuagbe
As the track and field events of the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo are scheduled to begin tomorrow, Nigeria’s dream of podium finish in some of the sports has run into troubled waters following the disqualification of the country’s 10 athletes by Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
Early hours of yesterday, Team Nigeria’s Camp in Tokyo was thrown into crisis when news of the disqualification of the 10 athletes was announced due to their missing the compulsory three Out of Competitions Test before arriving Japan for the Games.
The Athletics Integrity Unit is an independent body created by World Athletics that manages all integrity issues – both doping and non-doping.
It’s statement to all federations whose athletes were involved showed that a total of 20 athletes were declared ineligible with Nigeria being the most affected with 10 athletes.
Other countries affected include; Belarus, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco, and Ukraine.
The athletes were disqualified for not meeting the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 governing National Anti-Doping Federation.
The statement titled, “20 athletes not eligible for Tokyo 2020 as minimum testing requirements not met by ‘category a’ federations”, read in part: “Despite significant improvements in the domestic testing programmes in countries categorised as being the highest doping risk to the sport under the World Athletics Anti-Doping Rules (Anti-Doping Rules), 18 athletes from the final entries for the Tokyo Olympic Games are not eligible to compete because the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping Rules were not met by ‘Category A’ Federations.
Sadly, Nigeria was listed amongst countries AIU termed Category “A” in dope- risk nations.
“Nigeria is the most affected country, not meeting the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 for 10 athletes.
“Nigeria was included in Category A at the start of 2020 following a continued period of weak domestic testing levels.
“Under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate anti-doping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions.
“Among other things, the Rule sets out minimum requirements for testing on the national teams of ‘Category A’ federations deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.
“The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than 3 weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event. Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.
Although non of Athletics Federation of Nigeria officials could be reached to throw lights on why a whopping 10 athletes missed the tests, THISDAY checks however revealed some of the affected athletes to include; Ruth Usoro, Favour Ofili, Annette Echikunwoke, Chidi Okezie, Chioma Onyekwerre and Rosemary Chukwuma.
A former board member of the AFN who spoke with THISDAY on condition of anonymity insisted that the affected athletes didn’t dodge to avoid being tested.
“They didn’t dodge to prevent being caught but unfortunately most of them are in students in America and Nigeria. Those in the USA don’t test as it is not the responsibility of the NCAA by AFN and the world body,” revealed the top official.
He attributed the infighting in the dissolved board of the federation to why the matter was relegated to the background.
“The Secretary General of AFN who ought to know was barred from the official email by the immediate past President. Even when World Athletics wrote classifying Nigeria into Category ‘A’ we didn’t know until much later.
“The problem is that we got dragged into category ‘ A’ since 2019 and did nothing to exit it,” declared the top level track and field official last night.
With the disqualification of some of the athletes scheduled to run in the relays, handlers of Team Nigeria’s track & field must be scratching heads now on how to cope with those left in the pool.
