9th May, 2012
As Nigerian athletes are rounding off their preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games, a board member of the Athletics Federation of Nigeria, AFN, Gloria Obajimi, has revealed that the body is set to carry out series of tests on its athletes to prevent drug cheats.
The former Nigeria international hinted that the federation is already working in tandem with the National Sports Commission, NSC, to detect drug cheats before they reach the venue of the games.
“The federation is already working with the NSC to ensure that none of our athletes go to the Olympics to disgrace the country. That’s why we have decided that the athletes will all be tested before they go to the Olympics,” said Obajimi.
He added: “We want to prevent the situation where they will only be detected when they get to the games. We will carry out our own test on them before they live the shores of this country so that those found wanting will be dropped before the games commence.”
Obajimi further hinted that the AFN wants to prevent a recurrence of previous situations, in which Nigerian athletes tested positive to performance enhancing drugs at international sports competitions.
“We have learnt our lessons from past occurences. Gone are the days when Nigerian athletes were disqualified from games due to drug related offences. That’s why we will make sure that the drug cheats will not get to the venue at all.”
—Bimbo Ajayi