The International Olympic Committee has
sent the gold medal won by Nigeria’s 4×400 metres relay quartet at the
2000 Sydney Olympic Games following the disqualification for doping
violation of Team USA squad, the original winners.
The IOC letter covering the dispatch of
the medal and signed by the IOC President Dr. Jacques Rogge was
addressed to the Nigeria Olympic Committee.
It reads, “I am pleased to send you this
Olympic Gold for Mr Enefiok Udo-Obong, who was part of your men’s
4x400m now placed first in the athletics men’s 4×400 metres relay event
at the Games of the XXV11 Olympiad, Sydney 2000.
A copy of letter, which was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria, was silent on the medals for the other members of the team.
It is believed that the IOC might have
acted in the manner it did because they had yet to receive the silver
medals from the other members of the team.
The NOC Manager Mr. Emman Nweri said
that Nigeria forwarded only the silver medal that was returned to it by
Udo-Obong in line with the IOC directive.
He said that the others — late Sunday Bada, Jude Monye and Clement Chukwu — had failed to return theirs.
The USA-based Chukwu confirmed in a
telephone interview that he and the other USA-based member of the team
had yet to return their medals because they did not receive any official
correspondence to that effect.
However, Udo-Obong expressed delight at
the prospect of finally receiving the gold medal. He said that he had
been informed by the NOC that his medal had arrived from the IOC.
“I feel very happy; I am elated by this
development. It shows that destiny can only be delayed but cannot be
denied. Ever since the information about the decision of the IOC came, I
made efforts to confirm the authenticity of the news and I thank God it
is true,” he said.
He then added, “Although I am excited,
it could have been appropriate if the entire team received the gold as
one. The feat was a team effort.
“I submitted the silver since October
2012 but my teammates have yet to do so, because they didn’t believe it.
They’ve lost confidence of ever receiving the medals,” he said.
Ironically, Nigeria’s Bada, who ran the
third leg of the race at which they set a national record of 2min
58.68secs died in 2011.
President of the Athletic Federation of
Nigeria Solomon Ogba, said that effort would be made by the federation
to retrieve the silver medals from the other members of the squad so
that the IOC could send the right medals.
The decision by the IOC’s Executive
Board to reallocate the medals from 2000 came three years after they had
decided to disqualify of the USA. They were disqualified because of the
late Antonio Pettigrew confessing to having used banned
performance-enhancing drugs at the time.
With Nigeria elevated to the top position, Jamaica were promoted to silver and Bahamas the bronze.
“Pettigrew was disqualified in August
2008 but the Executive Board delayed a decision on reallocation until it
had received information stemming from investigations into the Bay Area
Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) sports-doping scandal,’’ said a
statement from the IOC.
After returning his medal American,
Michael Johnson, which meant he ended his career with four Olympic gold
rather than five, claimed “I feel cheated, betrayed and let down’’ by
Pettigrew.
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