Nigerian team athletes cry, officials blame Olympics debacle

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There is anxiety in the Nigerian team’s camp at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics after 10 athletes were disqualified for failing to meet anti-doping requirements by the Athletics Integrity Unit on Wednesday.

PUNCH reported on Thursday that the triple and long jump Ruth Usoro, sprinter Favor Ofili and eight other athletes have been disqualified from participating in the athletics events at the 2020 Olympics.

They accounted for 50 percent of the total number of 20 athletes disqualified by IAU from competing in the Olympics, along with others from Belarus, Ukraine, Morocco and Kenya, who are classified in Category A of countries to higher risk of doping by IAU.

A source from the Nigerian camp in Tokyo, who spoke to our correspondent on condition of anonymity, said the majority of Nigerian athletes, including those who had not been disqualified, had been crying since learning the news.

According to him, the news affected the morale of the athletes ahead of the track and field events, which begin on Friday (today).

Our source said, however, that officials were unable to provide any meaningful explanation or apology to the athletes.

We all cried, including those who weren’t disqualified. The news affected the morale of all the athletes. Officials were exchanging blame instead of apologizing, he told The PUNCH.

Many athletes, including those who were not disqualified, took to social media to express their disappointment.

Sprinter Blessing Okagbare, who posted on Twitter, said that rather than administering the sport, officials were busy engaging in a power struggle, leaving athletes to suffer.

I have said it before and I will say it again. If you don’t know the sport, if you are not passionate about it / us (the athletes), then you have nothing to do there as an administrator. The sports system in Nigeria is so flawed and we athletes are always at the mercy of the damage, wrote Okagbare, a 2008 Beijing Games silver medalist.

They were busy fighting for power, exerting their pride on PUMA contracts / kits, forgetting their major responsibility THE ATHLETES. It’s sad that this cycle keeps repeating itself and some people will say that I am arrogant to speak my truth. This is my CAREER, Okagbare wrote on Twitter.

One of the disqualified athletes, Chioma Onyekwere, who also took to Twitter, lamented that athletes are being punished for what they know nothing about.

It has come to our attention that 10 athletes are not eligible to compete in athletics for Nigeria, including myself. The athletes are not at fault for this. Please we need your help on how we can waive this so that all 10 of us can compete. @WorldAthletics @aiu_athletics.

I will continue to keep hope and continue to train. I don’t think athletes should be penalized for actions we can’t control. We need someone to talk to us athletes and answer all of our questions, Onyekwere wrote.

Also disqualified 4x400m mixed relay team member Chidi Okezie took to Instagram to express his pain.

The country of Nigeria is calling for help. The athletes suffer in silence. If we’ve never had a shot, how are we going to take it? Direct all your questions to @theafn_ Stay blessed, keep believing, Okezie wrote.

His post was shared by other athletes including Ese Brume and sprinter Enoch Adegoke

Brume further wrote on Instagram, begging officials not to destroy their careers.

It is heartbreaking and disappointing to see the system getting worse every day. Nobody cares about us (the athlete). It is a shame for all of Nigeria, the Nigerian Olympic Committee and the Nigeria Athletics Federation that this is happening. Destroy the careers of innocent athletes for what reason.

We need help; we can’t go on living like this. This is what we do for a living. It is high time for us to speak out and come together to make sure something gets done. We are humans, not animals. Stop bleeding our hearts.

When our correspondent contacted Ofili, she declined to comment.

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