Annette Nneka Echikunwoke of the United States has won silver in the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s Hammer Throw event, a medal that could have gone to Nigeria if not for poor processes by the Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) ahead of the last Olympics in Tokyo according to Echikunwoke.
But it was not a case of the athletes testing positive in dope tests, rather they were not tested under the right procedures by the AFN according to the minimum testing requirements of Rule 15 introduced in January 2019 for testing athletes by national teams of Category A federations.
Category A federations according to the AIU are deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.
Additionally, a major requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition urine and blood tests conducted at least three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.
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“To be clear: The [Athletics] Federation of Nigeria did not go through the processes to set up proper testing for us athletes,” the national and African record holder stated at the time following the Tokyo Games ban.
She added, “They left us in the dark about this whole drug testing issue until the last minute where we were left helpless. We cannot let anything like this happen again to athletes, devastating dreams and crushing opportunities.”
Held in 2021 after being postponed from 2020 due to the Covid pandemic, the Olympic Games in Tokyo had 18 athletes banned from competing after being declared ineligible by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU).
An independent body created by World Athletics to manage all doping and non-doping integrity issues, the AIU’s decision affected 10 Nigerian athletes including Echikunwoke who had opted to represent Nigeria in the 2020 Games.
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Nigeria was among seven Category A federations at the time, alongside Morocco, Ukraine, Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, and Kenya, having been included in the category early in 2020.
Ohio-born Echikunwoke set the national and African records with a 75.49m throw in Tuscon, Arizona in June 2021 before winning the Nigerian Olympic Trials with a 72.07m throw. Her silver medal at the 2024 Olympics was earned with a 75.48m throw, 0.01m shy of the African record.
“I think [this medal] could have happened three years ago, but I’m happy it’s happening now,” Echikunwoke said. “I feel like everything happens for a reason, even if it’s bad or good or ugly or whatever the case may be. This is beautiful.”
Camryn Rogers of Canada won gold with a 76.97m mark obtained in her penultimate throw, while China’s Zhao Jie claimed the bronze medal to complete the podium.