Nigeria’s women 4x100m relay team’s quest to grab a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, United Kingdom just went south.
This became reality as the team has just been stripped of the gold medal it won at the Games last year due to a doping violation, after winning what was thought to be their 11th gold medal in Birmingham and setting a new African Record of 42.10s.
The Athletics Federation of Nigeria had been notified by the World Anti-Doping Agency in September, that an athlete in the winning quartet had failed the doping test.
The quartet included Tobi Amusan, Rosemary Chukwuma, Favour Ofili and Grace Nwokocha.
Grace Nwokocha ran the anchor leg in Nigeria’s 0.21 seconds win over England at the Alexander Stadium on August 7, 2022, but tested positive for a banned substance; ostarine and ligandro, leading to the disqualification.
In a statement on Friday, The Commonwealth Games Federation (CGF) revealed that they had issued their decision regarding an in-competition sample provided by Grace Nwokocha, who competed in Athletics at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
“Analysis of the sample returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF) for Ostarine and Dihydroxy-LGD-4033, a metabolite of Ligandrol. Both are non-Specified Substances, listed under Other Anabolic Agents in the WADA 2022 Prohibited List.”
“On 17 May 2023, The Federation Court issued a decision that Ms Nwokocha had committed the following Anti-Doping Rule Violations (ADRVs) under the 2022 Commonwealth Games Anti-Doping Rules (ADRs):
- Presence of a Prohibited Substance or its Metabolites or Markers in the Athlete’s Sample, pursuant to Article 2.1 of the ADRs; and
- Use or Attempted Use by an Athlete of a Prohibited Substance or a Prohibited Method, pursuant to Article 2.2 of the ADRs.”
“Accordingly, the Federation Court disqualified Ms Nwokocha’s results from the following events, with all resulting consequences, including forfeiture of any points and prizes: Athletics – Women’s 100m; Athletics – Women’s 200m; Athletics – Women’s 4x100m Relay, including the team’s forfeiture of the gold medal.”
“The matter has now been passed to the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to determine any further consequences under their anti-doping rules…”
Nigeria’s disqualification means that England get gold, Jamaica has been promoted to the silver medal and Australia move from fourth to bronze.
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