Topic: News: Nigerian Lifters Head for Caribbean After Doping Ban

[Chris Ⓐ LeRoux]

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Nigerian Lifters Head for Caribbean After Doping Ban
By Duro Ikhazuagbe

Nigerian weightlifters that have been suspended from participating in global events by the International Weightlifters Federation (IWF) have another chance to redeem their image at the next World Championship slated for September in Santa Domingo, the Dominican Republic.

The one-year ban and $30,000 fine slammed on Nigeria last year will end in August, one month before the global championship in the Caribbean. Steve Olarinoye, secretary general of the Nigeria Weightlifting Federation, (NWF) who confirmed the country’s entry for the championship revealed further that due to the pains the ban had inflicted on the weightlifters, “we are going their to prove our worth.”

The NWF scribe said that despite missing out in the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, Nigeria still remains a major force in the sport. “We have a bunch of young lifters who are determined and hungry for success. In fact, the federation has achieved much in the past year raising a crop of young lifters who have great future in the sport,” he noted with enthusiasm.

Olarinoye regretted the ban and the inability of his lifters to participate in the Commonwealth Down Under. “We were sure of sweeping the medals in Melbourne but then the ban just put a spanner in our works.”

While restating the new position of the Sports Ministry on drug taking by athletes, the NWF scribe warned that any lifter caught using performance-enhancing substances would be banned.

“We have had a bitter experience in the past and now have put in place a mechanism to check drug use by lifters. But anyone of them who goes out of the way to dope will face stiff penalties that may end his or her career. That goes to show the seriousness we now attach to doping,” he noted.

Nigeria was initially banned for two years and a heavy fine of $250,000 slammed on her federation when four of the lifters who were Commonwealth-bound tested positive to banned substances. But after  series of pleadings and promises to curb the incidences of doping among lifters, the international body reduced the ban to one year and also slashed the fine to just $30,000.