10 Nigerian Athletes have been declared ineligible for the Tokyo Olympic Games. The track and field athletes; Knowledge Omovoh, Ruth Usoro, Favor Ofili, Rosemary Chukwuma, Glory Patrick, Yinka Ajayi, Tima Godbless, Chidi Okezie, Chioma Onyekwere and Annette Echikunwoke were omitted by the International Olympic Committee.
Apparently, the 10 Nigerians represent more than 40 percent of the track and field team the country had entered for the Olympics. Three athletes from Ukraine, one Moroccan, one from Ethiopia and three from Belarus have also been struck off the entry lists. Two Kenyan athletes were deemed non-eligible, but Athletics Kenya replaced them before submitting its final entries to World Athletics.
Bahrain is the final Category A country, but all 13 of its athletes have been cleared to compete. Category A National Federations are deemed by the Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) to be the most susceptible to doping so must meet certain extra requirements to be able to select an athlete for the Olympic Games or World Championships.
In this instance the rejected athletes have all been excluded on the basis of Rule 15 of the National Federation Anti-Doping Obligations. Introduced in 2019, the regulations state that in the 10 months before the Olympics, any athlete from a Category A country needs to face at least three no-notice, out-of-competition doping tests, which must be conducted at least three weeks apart. The 10 Nigerian athletes deemed ineligible for Tokyo 2020 were not subjected to these testing standards.
The country's participation in the women's 4x100m and mixed 4x400m relays lies in major jeopardy, with only two athletes now listed as entered for each race by the International Olympic Committee.
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