AFN: Our Athletes Not Banned For Drugs 

Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has described as misleading the headline in some national dailies which described as a ban the ineligibility of 10 Nigerian athletes to compete at the ongoing Tokyo 2020 Olympics due to non-completion of their mandatory three out of competition test (OCT).

Adeniyi Beyioku, Secretary-General of the federation says in a statement the athletes have done nothing wrong to be labelled ‘banned’ as the screaming headline in a few Nigerian dailies indicated.

‘The attention of the federation has been drawn to reports in some in some Nigerian newspapers that our athletes have been banned. This is far from the truth. The athletes were only declared ineligible to compete because they did not complete the three competition tests that would have made them eligible for only the Tokyo Olympic Games.

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‘Why the federation regrets the unfortunate incident, we however plead on behalf of the athletes who have complained about the negative tag that they are not banned from track and field as they have not violated any anti-doping rules.

‘ The athletes are free to compete in the many track meetings that will hold immediately after the Olympics across the globe and it will be inappropriate and unpatriotic to tag them as banned athletes.

‘The Athletics Integrity Unit did not use the word, ‘banned’ in its press release naming 18 athletes from six countries who are ineligible to compete at this Olympics due to the OCT failure.

‘Both the AIU and World Athletics usually, after all, anti-doping procedures have been concluded state the duration of the ban or suspension slammed on any violator of the anti-doping rules.

‘In the case of our athletes, they have not contravened any anti-doping rule and should be tagged as one,’ said Beyioku who has just been recognised as the Secretary-General of the AFN by World Athletics.
Despite the disqualifications, the AIU insists progress has been made by the Category A territories on the whole.

This includes in excess of 1,600 out-of-competition tests being conducted by domestically – and on top of AIU tests on athletes in the International Registered Testing Pool – in the seven countries since the start of 2021.

Increased testing resulted in six adverse findings, per the AIU.

“National Federations must play their part in supporting anti-doping efforts,” said David Howman, chair of the AIU Board.

“The eligibility rules for athletes from ‘Category A’ countries are very clear and compliance is essential for cementing the required long-term changes and ensuring a level playing field for clean athletes.

“I must underline that there have been significant improvements in anti-doping efforts in most ‘Category A’ countries thanks to this rule.

“It is clear that the relevant National Federations in conjunction with their NADOs [National Anti-Doping Organisations] have started to take their testing responsibilities seriously, and I thank them for their efforts, but there remains a long way to go in some circumstances.”