By Adesina Soyooye
Perpetua Nkwocha, Nigeria’s anchor in the 4 × 100 Relay Race during the just concluded Commonwealth Games has wiped the smile off the faces of Nigeria.
The Nigerian quartet of Tobi Amusan, Favour Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma and Nkwocha had had a record- breaking outing, beating Britain and Jamaica to the second and third places. The quartet took the Gold medal in style. And were celebrated no end.
No longer.
Nkwocha has wiped all that away and broken the hearts of Sports-loving Nigerians.
She has been caught by the World Athletics anti-doping body for doping. She allegedly used banned enhancing drugs.
On Saturday, September 4, 2022, when the news broke that Nigeria could lose its prized medal in the 4 ×100 relay race due to an alleged doping scandal involving one of the anchors, the identity of the culprit was not made public.
But identifying her late Saturday, the Athletics body disclosed on its website that Nkwocha failed the doping test. It revealed that Ostarine and Lingadrol, both banned substances, were found in Nkwocha’s sample urine taken for test on August 3, 2022.
Nkwocha has been placed on a provisional suspension and will not be allowed to participate in any Athletics event until the result of a confirmation test and a hearing by the World Anti-Dope Agency, WADA.
If the result is positive, she faces a ban. And Nigeria will be stripped of the Gold medal, making way for Britain to pick it, and Jamaica the Silver. The fourth placed country will be upgraded to Bronze winners.
