Nigeria bungle Tokyo Games squad

TOKYO. — The Athletics Federation of Nigeria have taken responsibility after 10 athletes from the country were declared ineligible for the Tokyo Olympics.

The Athletics Integrity Unit ruled that the competitors will be unable to take part in Tokyo because of non-compliance with out-of-competition drug testing requirements in the run-up to the Games.

The AIU announced that a total of 20 athletes from the seven countries, including Morocco, Kenya and Ethiopia, regarded as high risk (category A) when it comes to doping have been ruled out, with Nigeria accounting for half of those excluded.

The AIU said: “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.”

All of the Nigerian athletes ruled ineligible had already arrived in Tokyo to prepare for the track and field events that begin today.

With Athletics accounting for 13 of the 25 medals won by Nigeria at all Olympic games, including two of the three gold medals, this latest incident has caused an uproar in the country. Officials of the AFN and sports ministry have come under intense criticism from some of the affected athletes, local media and disappointed fans who were looking forward to the track and field competition at Tokyo 2020 due to begin today.

But the AFN has sought to calm the storm by taking responsibility for the failings and putting in place “appropriate measures to comply with Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping Rules of World Athletics”.

“The AFN bears responsibility for any lapses that may have occurred during the process and reassures Nigerians that our performances will not be negatively impacted,” the AFN said in a statement.

“All our athletes resident in Nigeria and who qualified for the Olympic Games completed the three mandatory tests.

“Most of our top athletes resident in the USA also completed their tests. However, a few athletes in the American collegiate system were tested, but those tests were deemed not to have complied with WADA sample collection and analysis standards.

“It must be noted that no Nigerian athlete tested positive to prohibited substances.

— BBC Sport.