Doping: Eight Nigerian Athletes Face The Music
Eight Nigerian Athletes at the 2015 All Africa Games (AAG) in Congo have been banned for testing positive to banned drugs.
This was confirmed by the Minister of youth and sports, Solomon Dalung, on Thursday during a meeting with board members of the Nigeria Olympic Committee (NOC) in Abuja.
The Minister noted that the country had been stripped of the eight medals won by the banned athletes at last year’s showpiece in Congo.
Advertisement
He said the athletes were found to have erred when the World Anti-Doping Agency, WADA took and tested their urine samples at the end of the games.
They have all been banned for four years, except the weightlifter, Elizabeth Owuah, who was banned for eight years.
The athletes involved are Deborah Odeyemi, Chinazo Amadi and Samson Idiata in athletics, Sunday Eze of para athletics, Thomas Kure of power lifting, Patience Opuene (Wrestling) and James Igbadiwei.
Dalung said:
Advertisement
“It is true that some Nigerian athletes tested positive to banned substances at the last All Africa Games.
“About five medals have been indicted because of the development and that takes us to why we are meeting here with the NOC. We still want to intensify our advocacy on anti-doping. The issue of doping is not always as we say it.
“Sometimes it could be from the food the athlete has taken or some drugs they took without knowing the implications before the event. So, what we are planning to do is to improve on our advocacy on anti-doping.”
The event which was hosted in Brazzaville in October 2015, saw Nigeria finishing in second overall with 47 gold medals, 55 silver medals and 42 bronze medals.
