IOC awards Nigeria 2000 Olympic Men 4X400 relay Gold Medal

Barely a week to the opening of Olympics Games slated for England, it was a celebration time for Nigeria Saturday as the nation’s team for men’s 4x400m relay were offered the gold medal from the 2000 Olympics following a meeting of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Executive Board.

The Nigerians team took the gold originally won by the United States, who have since been disqualified because of the late Antonio Pettigrew confessing to having been doped at the time of the Games.

The United States of America, original winners of the medal, were disqualified and stripped of the medal following late Antonio Pettigrew's confession to having been doped at the time of the Games.

Pettigrew, who committed suicide in 2010, had been disqualified in 2008 from the 4x400m race in Sydney where the United States won gold with a team which included Michael Johnson.

"Pettigrew was disqualified in August 2008 but the EB delayed a decision on re-allocation until it had received information stemming from investigations into the Bay Area Laboratory Co-Operative (BALCO) sports-doping scandal," a statement read.

"Having confirmed that no further information on other athletes would be forthcoming, the EB agreed to reallocate the medals and diplomas.
"The teams from Nigeria, Jamaica and the Bahamas that finished behind the US men in the 4x400m race will be awarded gold, silver and bronze medals respectively."

Nigerians are elevated to title winners with Jamaica taking silver and the Bahamas the bronze.

However, the Executive Board were not able to perform such an exercise regarding the US women's 4x400m relay gold medal winners from the 2004 Games despite Crystal Cox admitting afterwards she took steroids from 2001-2004.

Whilst the athlete herself - who ran solely in the heat - had her medal taken back the IOC are awaiting clarification from athletics governing body the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) as to whether the whole team should be disqualified.
Caption: Chidi Odinkalu, Chairman of the National Human Rights Commission