BY Remi Sulola
Sunday Dare, minister of youth and sports development, has ordered the immediate recall of Sunday Adeleye, technical director of Athletics Federation of Nigeria (AFN), to the country over administrative lapses and violation of rules and regulations of the IAAF.
Divine Oduduru and Blessing Okagbare, both medal hopefuls at the ongoing 17th edition of the IAAF World Championships, were almost disqualified from all other events for not showing up for the 100 meters they had been registered for.
Both athletes had informed the technical director that they wanted to concentrate on the 200m and the 4x100m relay only.
Dare who followed developments in Doha till the early hours of Sunday morning gave the order of recall and possible investigation of the incident to establish the extent of negligence and administrative lapses that have brought international embarrassment to Nigeria.
The minister took to his official Twitter handle to say: “Doha-all day I have followed the developments around two of our Athletes, Divine and Blessing. Our officials are at the IAAF Technical Information Center as we speak. Nigerians deserve an explanation.”
Oduduru and Okagabre ran foul of IAAF Rule 142.4 which specifically warned that any athlete who fails to participate in an event (s)he has been registered for without a valid reason will be disqualified from further participation in the championships.
Excerpts from the rules says: “At all competitions under Rules 1.1(a), (b), (c) and (f), an athlete shall be excluded from participation in all further events (including) other events in which he is simultaneously participating) in the competition, including relays, in cases where: (a) a final confirmation was given that the athlete would start in an event but then failed to participate. Note: A fixed time for the final confirmation of participation shall be published in advance.”
IAAF competition rules for 2018-19
TheCable reliably gathered that both athletes informed Adeleye that they would not be participating in the 100m event but their names still managed to get on the start list which indicated a final confirmation of their participation was done.
AP Sports had also in an interview with Okagbare said that Sebastian Coe, president of IAAF had called her and told her the case was being reviewed.
“He told me he understood what was going on, and to get some sleep,” Okagbare said. “My hope is that they get the appeal on time.”
The appeal was accepted and Oduduru ran in the 200 meters heats on Sunday evening.
He finished 4th in 20:40 seconds in heat 1 of the 200 meters.
A similar infraction was committed in Beijjng, China four years ago when Okagbare failed to come out for the 200m after placing last in the final of the 100m.
AFN’s explanation was that she had medical issues which was not bought by the IAAF and the sprinter was not allowed to run in the 4x100m relay at the Championships.
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