Grace Nwokocha, the U.S.-based Nigerian sprinter, has appealed to Nigerian journalists not to complicate her current situation following the official stripping of her medal and race times from the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham last August.
Additionally, Nigeria was also stripped of the 4×100 meters relay gold medal that Nwokocha won alongside her teammates Tobi Amusan, Rosemary Chukwuma, and Favour Ofili.
In response to claims made by an online platform operated by a Nigerian journalist, Nwokocha clarified that she did not speak to anyone regarding her travails in Birmingham. Expressing her frustration, she revealed that no one had reached out to check on her well-being since August 2022. Nwokocha emphasized her concern for her life and mental health, urging people to allow her some peace.
Addressing the allegations made in the online report, Nwokocha stated that she did not knowingly consume any performance-enhancing substances and instead accused one of her teammates of foul play at the Commonwealth Games. According to the report, Nwokocha recalled seeing the other athlete using her water without permission on July 28, 2022.
Despite telling her teammate not to do so, she unknowingly ingested a prohibited substance in a contaminated product on August 1, 2022.
The report further explained that Nwokocha had a practice of assessing the liquid level in her transparent Lucozade bottle to detect if others had drunk from it. On August 1, she took a drink from the bottle but immediately realized the level was lower than expected. Suspecting that her teammate had consumed from it without permission, Nwokocha stopped drinking from the bottle.
However, subsequent races on August 2 and 3 were unaffected as no third party drank from Nwokocha’s drinks.
The athlete’s adverse analytical finding occurred on August 3, 2022, when she was tested. However, a subsequent test on August 7, 2022, yielded a negative result, raising concerns about the accuracy of the initial test. Correspondence on Nwokocha’s behalf emphasized the need to question the validity of the August 3 result, regardless of the inadvertent ingestion of a contaminated product.
As the situation unfolds, Nwokocha called for restraint in discussing the issue on social media, emphasizing the importance of her well-being and mental health. With her plea, she hopes that the truth will prevail and her innocence will be recognized.
