Grumbles over allowances rock Nigerian camp in Glasgow
Nigeria’s first gold medallist at Glasgow 2014, Chika Amalaha, yesterday tested positive to a banned substance and she risks a long ban. When the announcement that Nigeria failed the dope test was made by the Commonwealth Games Federation Chief Executive Officer, Mike Hooper, 16-year-old Amahala was shocked and devastated by the news. Amahala, who burst into tears, said in broken voices that she did not use any banned substance.
“The athlete’s A sample was found to contain both amiloride and hydrochlorothiazide, both prohibited as diuretics and masking agents under class s5 of WADA’s Prohibited List,” Hooper said Amalaha has pursued her right to have her B sample tested, which will take place at the accredited laboratory in London on July 30. While waiting for the second sample test, Sports Minister, Tammy Danagogo, barred the athlete from granting any media interview and expressed hope that the B sample would prove her innocence.
The suspicion that Amahala must have boosted her system to win the weightlifting gold was raised on the day of competition with the manner with which she executed her event. Amalaha would be stripped of the gold medal if the second sample also comes back positive. WADA is set to investigate how someone so young had access to banned substances.
“I am rather saddened and disappointed this has happened to a 16-year-old,” WADA President Craig Reedie said in Glasgow. We will need to see if the ‘B’ sample matches the ‘A.’ Then if it does, the girl will be removed from the games and it will be up to the International Weightlifting Federation to apply a sanction and then she would lose her medal.”
Amalaha set Commonwealth Games records in her weight category with a total of 196 kilogrammes, breaking the previous mark of 188 kilogrammes. Dika Toua of Papua New Guinea won silver and Santoshi Matsa of India earned the bronze.
Amalaha said last week that she took up weightlifting despite opposition at home. “I started at the age of 12, but my family was strongly against me doing the sport at first. They kept telling me to stop doing it, but I persuaded them by getting a female coach. “From then on, it was hard work; training, a lot of pain and dedication that got me here today.
And now my family was in the audience and they are so excited and so proud,” she had said earlier on her victory. Amalaha’s positive test is the latest setback for weightlifting, which has been marred by doping cases.
Nigeria’s weightlifting team did not compete at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester because of a doping ban imposed in 2001 after four members of the squad failed drug tests.
Four years ago in New Delhi, three Nigerian runners failed doping tests. Folashade Abugan was stripped of silver medals in the women’s 400 metres and 4×400-metre relay after testing positive for a steroid.
Osayomi Oludamola had her gold medal in the 100 metres taken away after testing positive to a banned stimulant and hurdler, Samuel Okon, who did not win a medal, also tested positive. Meanwhile, Team Nigeria athletes are grumbling over the Sports Ministry’s cash award for gold medallists at the games.
The athletes said the cash award of N1 million for gold medallists was inadequate. They also said they had not been paid camping allowances which had been approved by the Federal Government.
One of the athletes who spoke told New Telegraph said they were not happy with Danagogo and the Director-General, National Sports Commission, Gbenga Elegbeleye, for the payment delay. “We were expected to go for a training tour ahead of the Commonwealth Games, but instead we were kept in Abuja for over one month. This is unacceptable and not good for the development of Nigerian sports.
“If we had gone for the scheduled training tours to the various destinations abroad planned for us to prepare very well, our starting points in Glasgow would not have been so bad. You can see clearly that only those whose sports federations made private arrangements for foreign training tours are the ones doing great in the competition.
“It is not too late for the Sports Minister and the director general to make amends. Please we are waiting for them to announce the date for the payment of our training allowances and also spread the cash awards for medallists.
It shouldn’t be for the gold medallists alone. Here in Glasgow, we see European countries celebrate all their medallists and even those who competed well and didn’t win any medal.
Competing in the Commonwealth Games alone is a big task that must be appreciated,” the source said