Nigeria athletes arrived Abuja, the state capital with silver and a bronze medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, the Nigeria team improved on their 2016 performance in Rio where they won just a bronze medal (in football). But as the event wraps up on today, the winner the Games between China and the USA goes to the wire.
With just 2 medals, the Nigeria team were engulfed with different embarrassments that game.
Ten out of 23 of the country’s athletes in the track and field event were disqualified from the Games after having failed to meet the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping Rules which states that athletes must have completed three out of competition doping tests six months before the Olympics.
The 10 athletes showed their grievances by protesting their disqualification with some of the athletes on social media pointing fingers at the discord in the nation’s athletics body as the main reason why they failed to get the minimum required out of competition tests.
As if that was not enough, the country’s top medal hopeful in the women’s 100 and 200 metres event was dashed as Blessing Okagbare was provisionally suspended for doping by the Athletics Integrity Unit.
Okagbare tested positive for human growth hormone in an out-of-competition test on July 19, four days before the Olympics opened.
The results of that test were received by track and field’s anti-doping body a day after Okagbare, had won her 100m heat in 11.05seconds to qualify for the semi-finals of women’s at the Olympics but her disqualification meant she could no longer continue with the competition.
Disappointment continued for Team Nigeria in the 100m men’s final as Enoch Adegoke pulled his hamstring despite having a good start failing to finish the sprint.
Things took a turn for good for Nigeria as medal hopeful, Ese Brume, rewarded the country’s faith in her by winning a bronze medal in the women’s long jump event followed by Blessing Oborududu who won a silver medal in wrestling after losing to America’s Tamyra Mensah-Stock in the final. The medal for Oborududu is the first for the country in wrestling since the sport made its Olympics appearance for the country in 1980.
After Oborududu’s success, medal hopefuls Odunayo Adekuoroye and Aminat Adeniyi failed in their bids to win a medal for the country as they both lost in the round of 16 of their events leaving the country to settle for just two medals.
Going into the final day of the Games, Nigeria sits 74th on the medals table.
China are currently first on the table with 38 gold, 31 silver and 18 bronze medals while The US are second with 36 gold, 39 silver and 33 bronze medals.
