Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Nigeria Wins 4×400 Metres Gold Medal After 12 Years

After 12 years, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially re-awarded Nigeria with the gold medal in the 4×400 metres relay event of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.

The Nigerian team which was made up of the late Sunday Bada and Jude Monye, Clement Chukwu as well as Enefiok Udo-Ubong were initially given the silver medal, but after a meeting of the IOC’s executive board, Nigeria was elevated as the winners with Jamaica taking silver and the Bahamas winning the bronze medal.

Nigeria takes the gold originally won by the United States, who has been disqualified owing to the late Antonio Pettigrew’s confession, to having taken performance enhancing drugs at the time of the games.
Pettigrew, who committed suicide in 2010, had been disqualified in 2008 from the 4x400m race in Sydney where the United States won gold with a team  which included Michael Johnson.

"Pettigrew was disqualified in August 2008 but the EB delayed a decision on re-allocation until it had received information stemming from investigations into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) sports-doping scandal," a statement read.

"Having confirmed that no further information on other athletes would be forthcoming, the EB agreed to reallocate the medals and diplomas.

"The teams from Nigeria, Jamaica and the Bahamas that finished behind the US men in the 4x400m race will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals respectively."

No comments:

Post a Comment