August 08, (THEWILL) – The Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN) has responded to the controversy surrounding Nigerian-born hammer thrower, Annette Nneka Echikunwoke, competing for Team USA instead of Nigeria at the ongoing Paris 2024 Olympics.
Echikunwoke won a silver medal for the United States in the women’s Hammer Throw on Tuesday night, a feat that came on the same night both Favour Ofili and Blessing Oborududu lost in the final of the women’s 200m and women’s freestyle wrestling respectively.
Her victory for the United States sparked anger among Nigerians, who felt the athlete should have given Team Nigeria her first medal in Paris. However, AFN President, Tonobok Okowa, countered that the Federation holds no blame for Echikunwoke’s switch of allegiance.
“I don’t know why some Nigerians will easily jump to conclude that the AFN rejected Echikunwoke. That is not correct. The problem started at the last Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, when Echikunwoke and some other athletes claimed that they were not paid their allowances by Team Nigeria,” Okowa said.
Echikunwoke, on her first-ever outing at the Olympics, threw a Season-best of 75.48m to win silver for the USA. In 2021, after opting to represent Team Nigeria at the Tokyo Olympics, she competed at the Nigerian Olympic Trials and holds both the Nigerian and African records in Hammer Throw with a mark of 75.49m.
After being disqualified from competing at the Tokyo Olympics, following the failure on the part of the then AFN board to pay for the Out-of-Competition Test (OCT) for the athletes, including Echikunwoke, Favour Ofili, and some others, she opted to switch back allegiance to the United States. She now has an Olympic medal to show for it.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
