Ten Nigerian athletes have been banned from the ongoing Tokyo Olympic games. The Atheletics Integrity Unit, AIU (an independent regulatory body that handles doping and non-doping issues) revealed this on Wednesday.
According to the directive by the AIU, eighteen athletes were ineligible to participate in the Olympics. Unfortunately, ten of them were Nigerians.
The latest development has dealt a huge blow to the Nigerian team, who have come a long way to make history at the rare event.
The regulatory body explained that the affected athletes were disqualified from the Olympics for failing to meet the minimum testing requirements under Rule 15 of the Anti-Doping rules.
Part of the statement read: “Under the framework of Rule 15 governing National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations, which came into force in January 2019, National Federations are accountable for ensuring appropriate anti-doping measures are in place in their respective jurisdictions.
“Among other things, the Rule sets out minimum requirements for testing on the national teams of ‘Category A’ federations deemed to have the highest doping risk and considered as a threat to the overall integrity of the sport.
“The key requirement in Rule 15 is that an athlete from a ‘Category A’ country must undergo at least three no-notice out-of-competition tests (urine and blood) conducted no less than three weeks apart in the 10 months leading up to a major event.
“Only then do they become eligible to represent their national team at the World Athletics Championships or the Olympic Games.”
The ‘Category A’ Federations listed by the AIU include: Nigeria, Belarus, Bahrain, Ethiopia, Kenya, Morocco and Ukraine.
A major contributing factor to the disqualification was Nigeria’s weak domestic testing levels.
