Nigeria’s Oludamola
Osayomi was on Tuesday
stripped of the women’s 100
metres Commonwealth
Games gold medal after her B
sample confirmed a positive
test for a banned stimulant.
“The Federation Court
determined that Ms
Oludamola had committed an
anti-doping rule violation
and that she be disqualified
from the Games and all her
competition results at the
2010 Commonwealth Games
be nullified,” the
Commonwealth Games
Federation said in a
statement yesterday.
The Federations also said her
compatriot, Samuel Okon, a
110 metres hurdler who also
tested positive for
Methylhexaneamine, waived
his right to have his B Sample
tested and has also been
disqualified.
Osayomi was awarded the
100 metres gold in
controversial circumstances
when Australia’s Sally
Pearson was disqualified for
a false start.
Pearson’s disqualification
was announced three hours
after she had crossed the
finish line.
Natasha Mayers, who
finished third in the race to
take St Vincent and the
Grenadines’ first athletics
medal, will now be awarded
the gold medal.
Mayers, had in 2005, tested
positive for the male sex
hormone testosterone and
went on to serve a two-year
doping ban.
Fourth-place finisher,
Katherine Endacott of
England will get the silver
medal while Cameroon’s
Bertille Delphine Atangana,
who finished in fifth place,
will be awarded the bronze
medal.
Sold as a nasal decongestant,
methylhexaneamine is said to
increase alertness and delay
fatigue and has been
marketed as a dietary
supplement and party pill.
It was placed on the World
Anti-Doping Agency (WADA)
banned list at the start of
2010 but has been
downgraded in 2011 to a
“specified stimulant” for
those substances that are
more susceptible to
inadvertent use.
Osayomi blamed a toothache
remedy for the failed test
although Commonwealth
Games Federation chief Mike
Fennell earlier suggested
nutritional supplements
might be to blame.
However, regardless of what
may have given rise to the
outcome of the dope tests
involving the Nigerian duo of
Osayomi and Okon, the
general consensus among
athletics fans in Nigeria is
that athletes should stay
away from drugs.
“We can only keep educating
athletes to stay away from
drugs,” former Athletics
Federation of Nigeria boss
Oluyomi Adeyemi-Wilson told
D U R U E K E 4 A L L. “That’s all we can
keep doing to forestall a
future recurrence because it
is very disturbing anytime
any of our athletes gets
disqualified for doping”
Athletics coach Paul
Obodoechina, the trainer of
Nigerian sprinter Ogho-
Ogene Egwero, is saddened
by Osayomi’s
disqualification.
“It’s quite unfortunate that
she has been stripped of her
medal all because she was
trying to seek a remedy to a
tooth ache,” he said. “But
the lesson here for others is
to stay away from drugs.
“The Australian (Pearson)
was disqualified and
everyone in Nigeria rejoiced
at the decision. Now that our
girl has been stripped of her
medal I wonder how the
Australian will react.”
Obodoechina was spot-on
regarding how the entire
country rejoiced at the news
that Osayomi had been
awarded the gold medal
following the
disqualification of the Australian.
The Australian Associated
Press however reports that
Pearson has ridiculed
Osayomi by saying that the
Nigerian’s drug test is “a
joke”.
“It’s just a joke you know,”
said Pearson. “I don’t know
how you can accept a medal
knowing what you’ve done to
yourself. But I’m happy I’m
out here running drug free,”
she was quoted as saying by
the Australian Associated
Press.
Oke leaps to gold
It wasn’t all gloom for
Nigerian athletics on
Tuesday as Tosin Oke won the
men’s triple jump event.
Oke, who used to jump for
Britain, beat the field with a
leap of 17.16 metres to claim
gold. He narrowly beat
Cameroon’s Lucien Schlick,
who claimed silver with a
leap of 17.14 metres.
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