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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